The Piper's Well
by NewSalemWitch
Summary: The first few years of Kagome's life are finally catching up to her... and so is her destiny, it seems, when a silver haired stranger kidnaps her to use her in the search for a certain jewel. AU, WIP, InuKag
1. Storytime

**Author's Note:** This is my first fanfic, so please be gentle when you review. Or at least semi-gentle. Be honest, not brutal. Unless honesty is brutality... yikes. That's a scary thought. ;;

Before I start, I just want to make a few things clear:

Kikyo (or at least references to her) will be in the first couple of chapters, and later on in the story, but she really is just part of a sub-plot. I feel bad for her, but I'm not real fond of her. (I'm even less fond of how stupid Inuyasha gets when she's around.)

I'm not writing this story just to bash a few characters. Except, perhaps, Naraku. After all, who doesn't hate that creep?

This an Inu/Kag fic. However, I'm warning you ahead of time, I've got no experience whatsoever when it comes to romance, (I've never even held anybody's hand) so there's a large possibility that any and all fluff will really stink. --;; (I hope not, though.)

This story doesn't take place in our world, or the feudal era. It takes place in an entirely different world, with different gods and powers and… other stuff. There will be similarities between our world and theirs, but that'll only be because it's convenient for me. (Does that make this fic an AU? I'm still confused on that part.)

Now that that's all cleared up, on with the first chappy of my first fic! Hope you enjoy!

**The Piper's Well**

**By NewSalemWitch**

**Prologue: Storytime**

"Long ago," Kaede began, "there was a princess who was born in this very land. She was beautiful from the moment she entered this world, and her beauty only grew with age. Not only was she pretty, but she was intelligent, surpassing all other children her age. But there was one thing that she lacked: life. She had a chilliness to her that distanced her from everyone around her. But this princess, Kikyo, was heir to the throne. In order to be a good queen, she would need to learn to live, or her subjects would never follow her.

"Then one day, her parents announced that there was another child coming. When she was born, something changed in Princess Kikyo. Do you know what that was, little Kagome?"

A five-year-old girl sitting at Kaede's feet shook her head excitedly, hanging on to the woman's every word. "What happened, Kaede, what happened?" she squealed.

"Hush, child, and I'll tell you."

Kagome ducked her head and mumbled an apology. Kaede chuckled. "Now, where was I? Ah yes. When the little princess was born, something in Princess Kikyo changed drastically." The priestess paused dramatically. "She began to live.

Somehow, in some way, that little baby princess got past her icy outer defenses. As the little princess grew, those same defenses did nothing but melt, slowly but surely."

"And they all lived happily ever after!" Kagome grinned and stood up. "Let's go play now."

Kaede sighed. "Kagome, I'm not done telling the story."

Kagome frowned. "But they're happy."

"Kagome, come here." The old woman gestured for the girl to come sit in her lap. After she was comfortably settled down, Kaede continued. "This is a special story, child. It doesn't have an ending yet."

Kagome frowned in confusion. "All stories have endings."

Kaede smiled and shook her head. "Not this one, child. It hasn't happened yet."

Kagome's frowned remained until she began to understand what her surrogate-grandmother had said. Her eyes slowly became larger than saucers. "…Hasn't… it hasn't happened yet?" she breathed, hardly daring to believe it. "Does that mean--"

Kaede chuckled. "This story is true, darling child. This really happened. It doesn't have an ending yet because the story isn't over yet."

"What happened?" Kagome demanded. "Tell me the rest of the story!"

Kaede gave her a Look, and she bowed her head. "S'rry, Kaede. Would you _please_ tell the rest of the story?"

"Yes, I will. What happened last?"

Kagome thought for a moment. "Kikyo's little sister turned her nice."

Kaede nodded thoughtfully, then continued with the tale. "Well, they grew together quite nicely and happily for several years. When Kikyo was about ten years old… let's see, the two sisters were about seven years apart, so her little sister would be about three… but in any case, when Crown Princess Kikyo was about ten years old, she got her first suitor. He was a kind and well-mannered gentleman, charming and funny. She was quite lovestruck."

Kagome grinned. "And they fell in love and got married, right?"

"No, child, remember, this story hasn't ended yet. The point where it has been left off at is actually quite mysterious, and even a little sad."

Kagome's smile vanished as if she'd been told her puppy died. ((A/N: No pun intended, I swear. ;)) "It doesn't have a happy ending?" she asked tearfully. "But why?"

"Because it really happened," Kaede patiently explained. "Things that happen in real life don't always end with 'and they lived happily ever after.'"

"Well that's stupid." Kagome crossed her arms over her chest, pouting fiercely.

"I know it is, sweetheart," Kaede gave her a hug. "But that's how it is."

"Should I ask you to tell me the rest?" came Kagome's muffled voice.

Kaede drew back and studied her adopted granddaughter. "You don't want to hear the rest?"

Kagome shrugged and frowned. "I dunno. I don't like sad stories. They make me wanna cry."

"First of all, you need to speak clearly and with proper grammar. Secondly," Kaede said, "I'm not going to make you sit through a story you don't want to."

Kagome spent several long moments, biting her lip with a furrowed brow. Finally she sighed. "Okay. I'd like to hear the rest of the story, even if it is sad. But don't blame me if I start crying, okay?"

"I'll not do anything but wipe your eyes and give you a much needed hug." Kagome looked at her pointedly, and Kaede chuckled. "Very well, I'll continue now. As I was saying, at the age of ten Crown Princess Kikyo met her first suitor, and became quite taken with him. His name was Prince Onigumo. He was witty, charming and handsome."

"He was perfect," Kagome sighed happily, momentarily forgetting that this story didn't have a happy ending.

"Indeed, they seemed to be a match made in Paradise. He was also a well-respected prince from a neighboring kingdom. But alas, little Kagome, it was not meant to be."

"What happened?" Kagome tugged on the front of Kaede's yukata urgently.

Kaede's face changed then. It went from the look of a peaceful grandmother to a sad and bitter old woman. "Kaede? What happened?"

"He took her aside one day and said that he wished to marry her, but when she said she didn't want to be married yet, he struck her across the face and viciously told her she'd regret her decision. _She would_ be his. Sooner or later, he'd get her.

"Now—when she told him that she'd tell her parents about his behavior, he laughed and told her that she wouldn't dare. She was offended to think that he would even try to stop her and demanded to know why he was laughing. Do you know what he said?"

Kagome, eyes wide, shook her head.

"He said he'd kill Princess Kikyo's little sister if she told anyone."

Kagome gaped. "No! He didn't!"

Kaede nodded seriously. "He did."

"The nerve of him! What'd she do?"

"At first Princess Kikyo didn't believe him," Kaede said. "But then he snapped his fingers, and a woman appeared dragging the little princess behind her. Kikyo's sister tried to run to her, but the woman held her back. The little princess wasn't crying, though. She looked nervous, but she wasn't crying. She had complete faith in her older sister. She believed that Kikyo would come out on top, just like she always did. But that poor girl saw something no one should have to witness. Kikyo, her heroine and protectress, bowed her head in defeat and agreed that she would not speak of this to anyone, so long as her sister was kept out of harm's way."

Kagome gaped. "She just—she just—she just— _let_ him win?"

"Of course not, child," Kaede smacked her lightly. "This is Crown Princess Kikyo we're speaking of. She would never just roll over and let Prince Onigumo—or anyone else for that matter-- win without a fight. As it was, she made sure her sister was locked safely in her rooms, then warded it so even if the door was unlocked, no one but her would be able to get in and out."

"What's a ward?"

"Warding is the process of creating a barrier," Kaede explained. "You know what a barrier is, correct?"

Kagome nodded. "It's when you use your powers to make a strong wall."

"So warding is what you're doing while you're making a barrier."

"Oh. Okay, keep going!"

"Very well. Princess Kikyo and her sister spent the night huddled together in Kikyo's bedroom. The little princess may be simply been drawing comfort and courage from her older sister, but Kikyo was wracking her mind for a solution to their dilemma. She refused to jepordize her sister's life, but nor would she allow herself to become chained to a man such as Onigumo. Finally, as dawn began to break, Kikyo rose and left her room to go speak with the head priestess in the castle. Perhaps _she_ would be able to help. The priestess was quite close to Kikyo, seeing as how she'd been the one to train the princess--"

"What was her name?"

Kaede blanched. "What was who's name?"

Kagome eyed her surrogate grandmother. "The head priestess."

Said grandmother fidgeted uncomfortably. "Er… Actually, it was Kaede… quite the coincidence, don't you think?"

Kagome grinned wildly. "Really? Wow! Wait 'till Sango hears about this!"

Kaede paled. "I don't think Sango would be particularly interested in something as trivial as this. She's got her training to do, remember? She'll be receiving her first true weapon soon."

Kagome pouted. "Good point. I'll wait till after she gets her first true weapon."

Kaede silently prayed to any deity that might be listening for Kagome to forget about that part in the next five minutes. "Well, in any case, Kaede and Kikyo were well acquainted due to the fact that Kaede was the one who taught Princess Kikyo how to control her spiritual powers, and Kikyo trusted her judgment."

Kagome frowned. "It didn't work out that way, did it?" Obviously she had remembered there was an unhappy ending.

Kaede sighed and shook her head sadly. "No, she didn't. On her way to her parent's rooms, she was intercepted by Onigumo."

"Oh, no," Kagome moaned into the palms of her hands. "He had her sister again, didn't he?"

"No, actually, he didn't."

Kagome looked up, surprised. "He didn't?"

"No, he didn't," Kaede repeated. "Kikyo had put a barrier up around the room Ka— er, her sister was in, remember? Because of that, Onigumo couldn't directly and physically harm Kikyo's little sister, but he could still curse her. So that's what he did. He brewed up an illness and sent it to the little princess right in front of Kikyo. It hit her almost instantly, and you could hear her scream all the way to the other end of the castle. It caused her a great deal of pain, and she became delirious with fever. But because of the barrier Princess Kikyo had erected, no one could come to the little girl's aid. Naturally, Kikyo tried to leave and go help her sister, but Onigumo refused to let her go, saying that she had broken her word and would have to pay the price."

"So she just died?" Kagome asked in a hushed voice.

Kaede shook her head. "No, Princess Kikyo threw away her dignity—and her life-- in order to preserve her sister's life. She begged Onigumo to remove the spell, saying that she'd do anything he wanted. She told him she'd marry him, and even pretend to be happy until the day she died, so long as he'd just leave her sister alone. But Onigumo had decided that Kikyo was not worth marrying. She was too spirited and intelligent." Kaede paused and blew into a hanky. "So he told Princess Kikyo that if she died, her sister would get better. If she did not die, others would become infected and die as well."

"Oh, no." Kagome said sadly. She sniffed and tried to blink the tears away. "What did she do?"

Kaede looked ready to cry, which was somewhat disconcerting for Kagome. "She killed herself." She opened her mouth as if to say more, but didn't.

"She… killed herself?" Kagome was just as close to tears as Kaede. "Kaede…" And she found herself enveloped in a bear hug. She cuddled close to the only family she knew, breathing in the sandalwood smell of her yukata.

After a few minutes of drawing comfort from one another, Kaede sat up and wiped her eyes gingerly. "There's still a bit left," she said, still sounding stuffy. "Would you like to hear it?"

Kagome nodded and wiped her own eyes. "Yes, please."

Kaede took a few calming breaths then continued speaking. "After Princess Kikyo sacrificed herself, the ward she'd placed on her sister's rooms disappeared, and the little princess stumbled out, screaming and crying about how Kikyo was going to kill herself. Somehow, she'd seen the whole exchange between Kikyo and Onigumo while she was asleep. Word of that and Princess Kikyo's suicide swept through the capitol like wildfire, and it was quickly agreed that the youngest— and now the only— child of King Toshiro and Queen Sakura should be hidden away from malevolent eyes. It was agreed that the head priestess would take the little princess away and raise her in a rural village out in the country. She would not contact anyone who could possibly recognize her or her charge, and would stay there until the little princess was old enough to inherit the throne."

"And so they're still out there?" Kagome's voice was still wobbly.

Kaede nodded. "The odd thing is, though, that the morning after they arrived at their new home, the little princess awoke with her memory gone. Apparently, her own mind had hidden all those horrible things from her, so she could continue to live in peace. So if someone came up to her and asked her to tell them about her life in the capitol, she wouldn't be able to if she tried."

"No one would be able to kidnap her, because even she wouldn't know if she was the right girl. Right?"

"Very perceptive of you, dear heart." Kaede stood and motioned that Kagome do the same. "Come now, we've got to see if Beniha has recovered from her fever yet. If not, we can give her some of the chamomile you found last fortnight."

Kagome took Kaede's hand and blinked as they stepped outside into the sunlight. "So that's it? That's how it ends?"

Kaede chuckled. "For now, youngling."

A/N: Happy fifteenth birthday to me! Please R&R, I haven't written stories for a while now, and I'd like to know if I can still write at all. So go press that little blue button down there!


	2. Credibility Crisis

**Disclaimer:** Disclaimer: I know, I forgot to say this in the prologue… whimpers Do I really have to say it now? Ouch! Hey, stop it, that hurts!

…Fine. I don't own Inuyasha.

But Shippo's _mine_. huggles Shippo possessively

Ouch! Fine, I don't own _any_ of the Inuyasha characters. Happy now?

**Author's Notes:** A big thank you to everyone who read, even if they didn't review! And Yuubi gets a cookie for the good advice! Thanks very much! And don't worry; I wasn't really planning a love triangle. That would be way too much; and they're so hard to watch, let alone write! (Makes me want to strangle both Inuyasha and Kikyo... good grief!)

Oh, and for anyone who is new to all this, hanyou means "half demon" in Japanese, and "Kami" is kinda like saying "God."

Italicized words are thoughts, and all other speech is in quotes.

Alrighty, and on with the story!

**The Piper's Well**

**By NewSalemWitch**

**Chapter 1: Credibility Crisis**

"Kagome, we shouldn't be here," Eri whispered as the four girls crept into the forest.

Kagome rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "And why not? Miroku was just trying to scare us. I bet he doesn't even believe in that cannibal hanyou tribe story. Besides, if they're _cannibal_ hanyous, then that means that they don't eat humans. Just each other."

"Well then, why doesn't he ever come here?" Yuka demanded. "This is the perfect place to meditate and do all those priestly things."

"Since when does Miroku do anything priestly?" Kagome retorted. As an afterthought she added, "Besides, I'll protect you guys. I've gotten pretty good at archery, you know. It's been a whole year now since I first started."

Yuka raised an eyebrow. "A whole year?"

"Well, almost a year," Kagome muttered. "But it's not like I'm really bad. I can hit the target four out of five times."

"Kagome, it's only twenty paces away and is four feet across," Ayumi pointed out.

(A/N: FYI, that is _impossibly_ easy to hit.)

"Can we please just go?" Eri interrupted quietly with a pleading look about her. "I don't like this place. It's really dark. And quiet and it gives me the creeps…" She glanced around uneasily. "And I really don't like this place."

"You already said that," Ayumi reminded her. "But I'm with you. My mother will _not_ be please when she find out I skipped milking the goat to go gallivanting off with you girls—especially when it's into the forest."

"You _guys_…" Kagome pouted, showing off her best puppy dog eyes. "We just got here! Come on, just a few more minutes, then we can all turn around and go back. Please?"

Eri shook her head while looking pleadingly at the two sane girls. Ayumi and Yuka nodded in agreement to the silent plea. "Nope, Kagome, we're all going back right now," Ayumi said firmly. She took one arm while Eri took the other. "Let's go."

"It's just a forest!" Kagome whined as she was half dragged past the tree line and down the slope back to the village. "It's peaceful in there! Quiet and peaceful and-"

"And swarming with demons!" Yuka rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Kagome, sometimes all I want to do is bop you over the head with… I don't know, something hard."

Eri nodded fervently. "Ditto."

Kagome sighed exasperatedly and glanced back for one last look at the forest. She'd never been so close before, due to the strict hold her grandmother had over her. _Well, maybe she's not so strict about everything,_ Kagome admitted to herself. _But she sure doesn't like that forest._ Unfortunately, the rules Kaede had laid down keeping Kagome away from the leafy haven only made it more appealing.

Too bad her friends didn't like forbidden spices.

Suddenly, she gasped and spun around. But by the time she regained her footing and looked back, the apparition was gone. "Did you _see_ that?" She asked shrilly.

"See what?"

Kagome pointed to a branch in a tree at the edge of the tree line, her mouth still agape. "There was boy standing in a tree! And he had white hair and kitty ears on the top of his head!" Her nose wrinkled semi-consciously. "And he looked kinda mad."

Ayumi raised an eyebrow skeptically as she peered in the general direction Kagome was pointing in. "Are you sure you didn't imagine it?"

"I'm positive! He was there, I swear it!"

Her friends exchanged dubious glances. "I'm sure he was, Kagome," Yuka said patronizingly.

Eri, on the other hand, whimpered. "Miroku wasn't lying! There really is a cannibal hanyou tribe!"

Ayumi made a disgusted noise and grabbed Eri's arm, motioning that Yuka do the same with Kagome. They began leading their two friends away. "There is no such thing as a cannibal hanyou tribe."

Yuka nodded. "If whatever you saw was real, Kagome—no, don't look at me like that. Let me finish! If whatever it was you saw really was real, the most likely conclusion is that it was a demon." She sighed. "We'll have to alert everyone."

"You realize that if we tell everyone about your little friend and he turns out to be fake, you'll be labeled some kind of insane nut job, right?" Ayumi asked.

"She might not," Eri said. "We just might end up being on edge for a while, but if nobody attacks and nobody else in the village sees anything, _then_ she'll be labeled crazy."

Kagome finally took her eyes off the tree line and focused on the quickly approaching village. "Gee, thanks." She rolled her eyes. "It's good to know you all believe me."

-

"Is that so?" Kaede asked when the four girls had finished their story. It had been a long and confusing ordeal, beginning with a reason why the girls were in the forest- one that had not been entirely true. The constant interruptions from Kagome about the skepticism in Ayumi's voice, Yuka's bad jokes and Eri asking about cannibal hanyou tribes were enough to drive anyone crazy. Kaede was a patient soul, but even she had momentarily lost her temper after the eleventh time Kagome interrupted. After a quick bout of yelling involving all of them—even shy little Eri- she had appointed Kagome to tell the story. Even though there was a silence spell on Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi, it had taken several questions to straighten everything out.

"So, you four girls were _near_ the forest-" Kaede glanced suspiciously at the girls, who had suddenly found something very interesting on the floor, ceiling, or walls to look at. "But not in it, and decided to leave. But as you were walking away, you, Kagome, turned back and saw-"

"A boy with long silvery white hair with furry little kitty ears on the top of his head and bright red clothing," Kagome finished. "And he was glaring at me. I dunno why."

"_Don't know_, Kagome," Kaede corrected absently. "Speak properly, dear heart." She waved a hand and the silence spells came off with a _pop_.

"So was he a demon?" Yuka piped up. "I mean, he must've been, for him to have ears like that."

Kagome shook her head silently for a moment. "He might not have been human, but he wasn't a demon, either," she said. Her brow furrowed as she searched for the right words. "I don't know what he was, but he wasn't human and he wasn't a demon."

"Well, what else could he have been?" Ayumi demanded. "Assuming, of course, that he's real."

Kagome glowered at her friend. "He is too real! Why would I make up something like him?"

"Kagome, I very much doubt it's even possible for someone like that to exist," Ayumi said placidly. "Whoever heard of a demon that looks even remotely human? All the ones that have ever attacked out village were hideous monsters."

Kaede tried to cut in before things could get out of hand. "Ayumi, Kagome-"

"Well they can't all be like that!" Kagome was valiantly trying to keep from shouting at her friend.

She was failing miserably.

"What about all those stories about hanyous? In order for a demon and a human to have a child, they both have to have the same body structure!" she yelled.

Kaede cleared her throat. "Girls-"

"Those stories are just that—stories!" Ayumi scowled. She wasn't much better at keeping a rein on her temper.

"Girls!" Kaede was scowling as she placed a silence spell over Kagome and her friends for the second time that day. "Now listen. I am going to go speak to Sango's father about this." She considered for a moment. "Perhaps I will speak to Miroku as well. He may have… _ahem_… impure tendencies, but he is still a spiritual man and will likely have advice of some sort. And you girls will speak of this incident to _no one_. Not even amongst yourselves. Do you understand?"

The girls nodded.

"Good." The old priestess got up and left the hut, smirking as she turned her back on the girls.

Said girls frowned confusedly at each other for a moment, then scrambled after her, clutching their throats and trying to yell after her.

-

"Psst! Sango!"

A raven hair girl looked up from polishing her bone boomerang. She frowned slightly. "Kagome? Is that you?"

Kagome looked cautiously around, and then slowly came out of her hiding place to kneel by her best friend. "Did you hear what happened?"

Sango nodded and handed Kagome a polishing rag. "Yes. I overheard Kaede telling Father and Miroku about it."

Kagome grinned as her friend blushed at Miroku's name. "You were eavesdropping! Why?"

Sango's blush became a full-blown red-hot chili pepper red. "I was just—curious, that's all! Kaede looked so serious, and then she wanted to speak with Father _and _Miroku—hey, don't laugh!"

Kagome chuckled. "You know I'm just teasing you. But what did they say? Kaede won't tell me anything."

Sango smiled superiorly. "I didn't hear much, but Kaede and Miroku were talking about how it's weird that you knew your friend wasn't a demon-"

"My friend? Why is he _my_ friend?" Kagome demanded, completely missing the point.

"Because you're the only one who saw him. Anyway-"

"So? You believe me, don't you?"

Sango's polishing hand slowed, then stopped. "You want the truth?"

Kagome's face fell. She knew what was coming. Even her best friend didn't believe her. "Yes," she muttered.

"Yes. I think I do."

Kagome looked up and grinned. "You do?" How could she have doubted Sango, of all people? "Wait—you _think_ you do?"

Sango shrugged. "I believe you saw what you said you saw, but I think it was a demon."

"But-"

"Do you want to hear what everyone was saying or not?" Sango demanded. Kagome nodded. "Well, then hush up. Kaede and Miroku were most hung up on how you knew your little friend wasn't a demon, because you haven't… erm… 'demonstrated the use of any spiritual powers.' That's how they put it."

Kagome sighed. "I know there's such a small chance of me getting them now, because I'm so much older than most kids when their powers are awakened, but I also know what I know. I may not know how I know it, but I do. That boy was not a demon."

"It's not unheard of for someone's spiritual powers to show up at fifteen," Sango consoled her friend. "Rare, maybe, but not unheard of."

Kagome smiled, though it didn't completely reach her eyes. "The last person to have spiritual powers show up late was that Princess Kikyo from all those stories. Besides, it doesn't matter. I might've been able to be a priestess if Kaede had been my real grandmother, but spiritual powers tend to run in the family. My mother was probably a weaver or something." she shook her head and abruptly changed the subject. "What did you father say?"

Sensing her friend wanted a change of topic, Sango obliged willingly. "He was most worried about the village's defenses in case of an attack. Me an' him an' Kohaku are going with the other demon slayers tomorrow to look over the outer walls. You can come if you want," she offered. "It's liable to turn into dirty, hard work, but you know you're always welcome to join us."

Kagome laughed. "I'm sure I am," she said. "You all can get as much help as you can." Sango blinked a few times as her eyes became shadowed with sadness, and Kagome looked stricken. "Oh, no! Sango! I'm so sorry; I didn't mean it that way!" A few years ago, Sango had gone out to watch her father and several other inhabitants of their village exterminate a demon that had been plaguing a village several days' walk away from their own. Her little brother had come along as well, and it was her duty to take care of him. Their little band had returned triumphant, but their village had not fared so well. They had been attacked by over fifty demons all at once that had heard that the village's best exterminators were out. Their entire village had been burned to the ground, and there were no survivors. It had been the first time Sango had seen a dead human.

The remaining exterminators buried their friends and neighbors, gathered their belongings and left. After traveling around slaying demons for a few months, they had ended up in Kagome's village and decided to make it their own. Kagome and Sango had met and become fast friends.

"It's ok," Sango said shortly. "It was a long time ago, and Father and Kohaku are both alive. That's what matters."

Kagome nodded hesitantly. What to do to make up for her slip? "I'd be happy to come with you tomorrow."

Sango peered at her suspiciously. "Really?"

Kagome nodded. "It'll be a learning experience," she joked. As if she'd never seen Sango and the other exterminators make sure the walls were sound! "Besides, a bit of hard work never hurt anyone."

-

Kagome may have crawled into bed that night with a great deal weighing on her mind, but she had every intention of going to sleep immediately.

No, really, she did.

She sighed and closed her eyes, but a moment later they popped back open. "Maybe he was a demon," she murmured softly to herself. "Maybe Ayumi was right… what else could he be?" She scowled and turned over on her side. Ayumi may have been right when she'd said the boy was a demon, but that was it. All those other things were just… emotional baggage?

Kagome sighed exasperatedly and turned over on her stomach. What a foolish thought! Ayumi didn't have emotional baggage; she was as sturdy as a full-grown redwood tree.

"She couldn't really believe that, could she?" Kagome wondered aloud. "She couldn't possibly believe that all demons are filthy monsters. Just because we've never met a nice one doesn't mean they don't exist." Turning over—again—with a grumble, Kagome decided that she was running in circles and should give up and try to get some sleep. _Tomorrow I'll go apologize to Ayumi for yelling,_ she decided. _Maybe I'll ask her what she thinks then._

It felt like she had just drifted off to sleep when a noise woke her. _Thump._

Kagome's eyes widened. "What the-" she gasped. A quick padding noise was coming from above her. It continued until it had moved over to the edge of her room, then stopped. She looked up, wondering what on earth was large enough to make such a noise. It would have to have been a large raccoon to make that much noise.

_Thump._

Kagome gasped again as it hit her.

Something—or someone- was on the roof.

Kagome's eyes widened as she instinctively scrunched down and pulled the covers up to her chin as discreetly as possible. _Kami save me!_ Her heart was racing and she fought the urge to whimper. For a few moments all she was capable of was mindless terror. _This will never do, _Kagome thought as she tried desperately to calm down. _I'm not a coward, so I have to stop behaving like one._ She began taking deep, even breaths. Breathe in for a count of seven, hold for a count of seven, and breathe out for a count of seven. Breathe in for a count of seven, hold for a count of seven, and breathe out for a count of seven. Meditate. Breathe. Focus on the breathing. Focus on your breathing. Ignore the fear. Just ignore it. Slowly, Kagome's breathing began to return to normal.

Trying to keep her breathing steady, she rolled out of bed and dressed swiftly. It was best if she determined if there really was someone out there before she woke Kaede. Her credibility was already in question; if she woke the village and it turned out it had been nothing more than an injured bird, her credibility would be completely shot. On her way out of the room she grabbed her bow and quiver, just to be on the safe side. If there really was something out there, she'd be able to defend herself until help arrived.

In theory, anyway.

_Breathe in, breathe out. Don't think like that._

Quietly she crept through the house, painfully aware of how loud her breathing was. And who would've know how much noise doors make?

_Just breathe. Focus on your breathing._

Kagome slowly opened the front door. She hesitated before going outside, but took one last deep breath, steeling herself, and stepped out.

For several minutes all she could do was stand there, frozen. Her heart was still pounding wildly in anticipation of meeting whatever was hidden in the shadows. Kagome was fully prepared to step outside only to be attacked. Knifed to death, perhaps. Or have an arrow shot through her neck. Or—

_Stop it,_ she commanded herself. _Just stop it._

Kagome walked a little farther, so she was just steps away from the garden. She turned around and looked up at the house. It had been built many years ago, yet still stood proudly. It had two stories, unlike most houses in the village, because Kaede was the village's resident priestess. As such, she was obligated to welcome visitors into her house—meaning she needed somewhere to put them. That's where all the extra rooms came into play.

Kagome sighed and started back inside. _I really had been hearing things,_ she thought ruefully. _Good thing I didn't wake anyone._

She paused at the door once again and looked up at the stars. They looked back at her, winking and gossiping amongst themselves. The first constellation her eyes found was, as per usual, the Piper. The Piper had been the main deity of the kitsunes in the old days, before the Hundred Years' War. The war had gone on for exactly one hundred years, six months, and twenty-two days. No one could remember exactly how it had started, but it had ended only about twenty years ago. To end it, the late King Hayabusa of Yamikura and the current rulers of Inaria, King Toshiro and Queen Sakura, forged a treaty involving the construction of what was called the Haven as part of the peace treaty. It was a large area of land carved out of the border between the two countries, covered by a large dome. The dome was made completely out of the purest magical energy around. Anyone entering the dome with the intent to do ill was not allowed through. The dome almost had a mind of it's own in that matter, because it was never wrong, and no one had to stand by it twenty four- seven to make sure it was working. None of the ordinary folk knew exactly how it had been done, or how it maintained its power, but then again, no one really cared either, so long as it worked.

Kagome sighed peacefully, glad to be proven wrong about the noises, and turned to go back inside. "I hope my bed hasn't gotten cold," she murmured.

Then, without warning, two strong arms grabbed her from behind. One slid around her waist and one came to cover her mouth. Kagome screamed anyway, but the noise was muffled. "Shut it, wench," a rough voice hissed in her ear. "Or I'll gut you like a fish right now."

Kagome stopped shrieking but couldn't keep her whimpers quiet. _Gods above, who is this? He's going to kill me._ And she rammed her elbow into his stomach as hard as she could. Unprepared for the assault, her captor grunted and loosened his grip just enough for Kagome to wrench herself free and start running. "Help! Kaede! Sango, somebody help me!"

"I told you to shut it!" The man growled.

Kagome shrieked as the man grabbed her again. She pulled an arrow out of her quiver and jammed it into whatever part of him was closest. The man cursed as blood began to flow from his hand, but didn't relinquish his hold on her in the slightest. She twisted in his grip, crying and trying in vain to free herself.

"Stupid wench…" and then a slight pressure on the back of her neck and Kagome was out like a light.


	3. Abductor Revealed Sort of

Authoress Notes: ;; Very, very sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. (I really hate to say it, but I'm sensing a trend… cries) A GARGANTUAN thank you goes out to Hamona and CrimsonBirdhouse, whose reviews inspired me to get off my butt and start writing! Yay! Thanks, you guys! And another thanks goes out to my friend Erin for reading my other story, and not telling anyone that I write fanfiction! P Love you all!

And now, on with the story!

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**The Piper's Well**

**NewSalemWitch**

**Chapter 3: Abductor Revealed… Sort of**

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"Uhh…" Kagome groaned and brought a hand to her pounding head, tentatively lifting it. "Kaede?" she whimpered.

"The old hag isn't here." The sharp statement was rough and masculine, and the voice was oddly familiar. Kagome frowned. Where had she heard it before?

Quickly giving up on her mental search, Kagome sighed and slumped back down, vaguely realizing that she had two blankets—one above her and one below. One cushioned her from the hard ground while the other one kept her warm. They were softer than she would have expected them to be.

"How-- how come? Where is she?" Her tongue felt slow and swollen in her mouth, like she had bitten it, and her mind refused to fully wake up, preferring to leave her thoughts uncooperative as she scrambled to get them together.

"Probably back at the village," the voice said with a shrug. "Or out in the forest

with the rest of the villagers, looking for you."

I don't want to open my eyes, but I guess I should… 

"Why are they looking for…"

Kagome gasped as all her memories of the previous night flooded back and revelation hit her like a ton of bricks. That voice! It was the same as the one that grabbed her in the garden!

_I was kidnapped!_

Her eyes flew open and she sat up faster her head would prefer. Her vision swam, and the pounding increased to a dull roar. All she could make out was a blurry figure swathed in red crouching a few feet away. There was white floating around him as well… was that hair? She shook her head, quickly stopping as the pain grew. No one had white hair but old men, and he sounded almost like he was her age! Her headache spiked then, and she swayed and whimpered softly, eyes pressed tightly shut once more. "It _hurts_..."

The voice hmphed. "You're so girly it's disgusting."

Kagome frowned and opened her eyes, forcing her vision to clear. She was gearing up to glare at the boy, and tell him off for speaking so rudely to her.

When she saw him, however, her mouth opened, but nothing more than a squeak came out. "You're..."

He smirked arrogantly, revealing sharp fangs. "You remember me? I'm touched."

Kagome gaped and ignored his arrogant reply. "You're the boy with the kitty ears!" And there they were on top of his white mane, twitching this way and that as if to catch every sound around them.

In an instant he was in her face, growling fiercely. Normal people don't growl like animals, and they didn't have kitty ears, either. Maybe he _was_ a demon of some sort, just like Ayumi had said. He looked kind of like a panther demon, but did panther demons have white hair…?

"They're _dog_ ears, you stupid wench," he barked. "_Dog_ ears for a _dog_ demon."

Oh.

Not a panther demon, then.

_I'll have to be sure to apologize to Ayumi when I get back,_ Kagome thought absently, before peering up at the furry white appendages.

_They look so soft._ Curiosity sufficiently perked, she hesitantly reached up to gently rub one of them. She was marveling at the softness of them when her arm brushed the top of her head and she realized that his hair was almost as soft as his adorable little ears.

The boy batted her hand away and sprung back, surprise written all over his face. "What the hell'd you do that for?"

Kagome shrugged innocently. "I had to make sure."

"Make sure of _what?"_ he snapped, still glaring at her.

"I had to make sure they really were dog ears," Kagome explained patiently, as if she didn't mind he was shooting her looks sharper than Sango's katana. In truth, it took all she had not to squirm under his gaze. "Dog fur and cat fur feel differently."

He gaped at her in something akin to astonishment. "You could've just taken my word for it."

"I could've," Kagome admitted sheepishly. "But they-- they looked so soft and I just… wanted to pet them."

"You wanted to pet them," he repeated incredulously. Never, ever before had he heard such a ridiculous thing! His ears were one of the things that set him apart, kept him alone, got him into trouble, not… enticed girls.

Kagome nodded silently, not entirely sure as to what to expect in terms of his reaction. She didn't have to wait long.

"Let's get something straight here, wench," he barked, scowl in place once more. "I _kidnapped_ you. You're going to take me to the Shikon no Tama. Then-- if you've been good—I _might_ let you go home. And never, ever again will you even _think_ about touching my ears. Ever. Got it, wench?"

Kagome hesitated, studying the ground nervously. What was a Shikon no Tama?

"Hey!" he snapped. Kagome flinched. "Answer me!"

Kagome bit her lip and nodded wordlessly. He was bound to be angry when he found out she hadn't the faintest clue what she was supposed to be leading him to. But how angry would he get? His fingers didn't have regular nails; they sported sharp looking claws, like an animal's. He wouldn't… use them on her, would he? The thought made her shudder.

He settled himself cross-legged across the fire from her, watching her suspiciously. _As if he thinks I'm going to pounce on him to get at his ears again,_ Kagome thought with a small smile. "It's Kagome," she told him.

"What?"

"Kagome," she repeated. "My name is Kagome, not 'wench.'"

He rolled his eyes. "Keh. Whatever."

There was an uncomfortable pause as Kagome waited for him to introduce himself. "Well?"

He looked back at her sharply. "Well, what?" he barked.

Kagome tried not to roll her eyes. She succeeded, but barely. "Well, what's your name? I can't go around yelling, 'Hey, you,' all the time."

He grunted and looked away again. "Inuyasha."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Inuyasha," she said pleasantly; as if she meant it.

All she got in reply was a grunt.

_Though under different circumstances I think it might have been more of a pleasure._

They sat there for a long moment in silence. Kagome looked all around them but was unable to see very far. Trees surrounded them from all sides, and there were no noises besides the crackling of the campfire, the wind in the trees, and the night animals. It was an odd feeling. Kagome had never been far enough into the forest by her village to not be able to hear the sounds of her neighbors as they went along with their daily tasks. _Of course,_ she thought dryly, _I've only been in it once._

Sango-- and even her little brother Kohaku-- had slept out in the forest before, she knew. Occasionally a messenger would come in with the request that the demon slayers come to aid a nearby village. Her friend had told her that if night fell and they were still traveling, she and the other demon slayers would camp off the side of the road in the forest.

Kagome sighed and put a hand to her head as the pounding increased. It felt as though a nail were being pounded into her temples and it made her ears ring.

A water canteen flew through the air and landed beside her, making her jump in surprise. She picked it up and tentatively looked over at her kidnapper.

Her kidnapper. It felt so strange to think of him that way. What would he do if she tried to leave? So far he hadn't been very pleasant, but she hadn't actually seen any evidence that he would hurt her if she tried to escape. After all, he had given her not one, but two blankets, built a campfire for her, (after all, Sango had told her that demons liked to believe they were above needing the warmth and convenience of a campfire, so it must have been for her) and yes, he'd been rude, but not violent, and he hadn't laid a finger on her.

"There's water in it," he told her gruffly, avoiding her inquisitive gaze. "Your headache is prolly 'cause you're dehydrated."

"Oh." Kagome picked it up and uncorked it, hesitating. She glanced at him nervously. He didn't seem the type to kill her outright with that ratty-looking sword at his hip, but what about poison?

He rolled his eyes exasperatedly, as if he'd read her thoughts. "I need you to find the Shikon no Tama for me, remember? I'm not going to kill you. It's perfectly safe."

Kagome blushed, embarrassed, and nodded.

But even with the comforts he'd prepared for her, staying with him was not an option. He'd kidnapped her, so he couldn't possibly be _that_ nice. And what was this jewel she was supposed to find for him? A Shikon no Tama? She'd never even heard of it! It must be some kind of large gemstone that was worth a mountain of gold.

But her captor, what was his name? Inuyasha. He'd said that she was to _find_ it for him; he never said she had to steal it for him.

But how in all the gods' names was she supposed to find it? And the only reason he wasn't going to kill her because he thought she could! What would he do when he found out? Because he would find out, at least eventually. She couldn't lead him on a wild goose chase forever.

_I have to get out of here,_ she thought as she thoughtfully brought the canteen to her lips to take several large gulps. _I have to get out of here _tonight_. He'll tell me to start looking for the Shikon no Tama tomorrow morning and when he finds out I can't, he'll kill me!_

Kagome choked, coughing desperately as water went down the wrong pipe. With trembling hands, she recorked the canteen and leaned over to the side of the blankets, coughing and gasping for air.

If she had glanced at the demon seated on the other side of the fire, she'd have chucked the canteen at him in hopes of wiping the bemused smirk off his face.

Minutes passed, and Kagome's breathing calmed as her lungs cleared. She lay back down on the blankets, facing away from the fire and her captor. Every now and then a cough bubbled up, but she choked it back down, trying to keep her breathing steady. She'd pretend to be asleep, then make a break for it the second Inuyasha bedded down for the night.

_But I've got no idea where we are,_ she thought miserably. _I could run for days and not find a single village._ She frowned angrily. _It doesn't matter. I'm getting out of here before he kills me._

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Kagome stiffened and her eyes flew open as she jerked awake. What had happened? She wasn't supposed to fall asleep! What time was it? Was Inuyasha asleep? Her breath caught in her throat. What if it was nearly dawn? Then she'd have such a small head start that he'd catch her easily! Adrenaline began pumping and her heart thundered in her chest. This could end up being the only chance she'd get to escape and there was no room for error. If she messed this up, there most certainly would not be another opportunity.

Kagome glanced up. It was silent in the clearing, but the sky was turning from a black sheet to a darkened grey-purple, signaling the coming of dawn.

She frowned as it occurred to her that if she had thought to look up at the stars last night she might have been able to figure out where they were. But the time for that had passed; the stars were invisible in the pre-dawn light.

_Inuyasha might still be asleep, _she thought hopefully. Sitting up as quietly as she knew how, Kagome quickly but cautiously looked around, ready to fall back onto her blankets and fake sleep if need be. Her eyes fell on the empty space next to the burnt-out campfire, and they widened as a gladdened expression tugged at her face. _What luck! He's gone and left me all alone!_

Quickly she scrambled to her feet and took a step forward, freezing in terror as a horrible crackling roared throughout the clearing. She looked down at the pile of dried leaves that had been placed in a pile surrounding her bedding.

Quenching the impulse to dive back into her bedding, Kagome glanced around frantically, searching with her eyes and ears to see if Inuyasha was coming back to make sure she didn't run off. When several minutes had passed and still nothing had happened, Kagome hopped over the leaves and sprinted into the forest, keeping an eye out for anything else that would cause undo noise.

Time went by, and the sky lightened to a pale grey. Dawn was approaching. Kagome alternated between a jog and a run, increasing her pace occasionally as her fears grew. She couldn't help but glance back every few seconds, certain she would see a certain dog-demon barreling after her. The forest may have been silent save for the waking animals, but that did nothing to calm her nerves.

"This is stupid," she muttered, glancing behind her yet again. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

_He's going to come after me, and when he does, he'll catch me no matter how big of a head start I've stolen._

And with that thought, she couldn't help but ignore the stitch in her side and go faster.

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Inuyasha smirked and slowed down the slightest bit to keep pace with the girl below him. That wench had no idea he was even there, of that he was sure. If she had, she wouldn't have kept glancing back every minute and a half to see if he had finally caught up with her.

In truth, he'd been there the whole time. He had always been a light sleeper, and the crackling of the leaves had instantly brought him to full alertness. It was a useful trick he'd used many times since he'd left home. It never failed to give him the extra moment of preparation he needed when a rouge demon decided he looked like a good bedtime snack.

But he'd never used it to keep tabs on someone before, and wasn't even sure if it would work. He _was_ sure, however, that she was going to try to escape at some point.

After all, isn't that what all captives do?

His super sensitive ears picked up Kagome's mumbling. "This is stupid." He laughed silently to himself. Of course it was! She didn't really think she had a chance at escape, did she? "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He didn't stop to question himself as to why he was letting her get so far. In the past when things had not gone his way, things had often gotten violent.

Then the wind changed and Inuyasha skidded to a stop, nearly losing his balance and tumbling from his perch in the process. "No way," he growled. "This is not what I need right now." He frowned and reached out into midair, eyes narrowing dangerously as he felt a prick on his palm. He brought it back again and inspected it.

There was a thin line of blood running across the palm of his calloused hand.

His jaw clenched angrily. "Yura."

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Yura giggled girlishly as she felt a tug on her comb. "So the little white-haired puppy knows I'm here, does he? How very wonderful! Simply marvelous!" She sighed happily and threaded an invisible hair through her comb, then tugged on a different one. "This will make it even more interesting! Oh, I'm going to have so much fun! And at the end of the day, I'll finally have his wonderful head of beautiful hair!" She paused and glanced down to see a black head of hair stumble through the trees and into the clearing just ahead. "And, of course, the cursed priestess." Her giggly attitude dropped as her irritation pushed its way to the surface. "How dare that insolent cur get to her first? Didn't his mother teach him any manners? Ladies always go first!"

The branch wobbled unsteadily as another weight settled itself upon it. "Whoever said you were a lady, Yura?"

Yura barely glanced up. "Well, you're certainly no gentleman, half-breed," she replied primly. "And what kind of a priestess wants to be around a half-breed? I suppose I'll just have to do her a favor take her off your hands." She smirked at the growl that rose up.

Inuyasha lunged, swiping at her throat with his claws. "Over my dead body, witch! She's mine! I got to her first!"

Yura giggled again and jumped to the branch above and pulled a few hairs around in her comb, sending the invisible threads shooting towards Inuyasha. "If you insist!"

He darted back, and the hair missed him.

Unfortunately, they hit the branch he was perched on.

"Aah-AH! SHIT!"

Down, down, down he goes. And where he stops, nobody knows.

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A/N: For those of you who don't know, a stitch in your side is that cramp you get when you've been running real hard for a while. Wanna know how to cure it? (My friend's in varsity track, and her coach told her.) You lean over, put your hands on your knees, and cough. Trust me, it works! (Sooo awesome! I hate those things.) XD R&R

Ja ne!


	4. Yura of the Hair

**Authoress' Notes:** Just a quick note, and then I'll let you go read… I am really, _really_ sorry it took so long to get this out. I had to figure out how to write an action scene. :shudders: Twas not pretty. But the next chapter should be out relatively soon after this, since I seem to have gotten the hang of it all. Also, please graciously excuse all grammar mistakes. (I don't have a beta yet.)

**Disclaimer:** I had a dream last night that I actually did own Inuyasha and Co… I was _so_ depressed when I woke up.

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The Piper's Well 

**NewSalemWitch**

**Chapter 4: Yura of the Hair**

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_Last time, on The Piper's Well:_ (hehehe, I think I'll make a habit of this…)

Yura giggled again and jumped to the branch above and pulled a few hairs around in her comb, sending the invisible threads shooting towards Inuyasha. "If you insist!"

He darted back, and the hair missed him.

Unfortunately, they hit the branch he was perched on.

"Aah-AH! SHIT!"

Down, down, down he goes. And where he stops, nobody knows.

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Inuyasha twisted in midair, cursing violently as he collided with the ground. He didn't land headfirst, thank the gods, but he didn't land softly either.

_Thud._

Ouch.

"Bitch!"

Yura only giggled. "La! You're such a bad boy, halfling. How _do_ you keep the girls at bay?"

"By telling them to go screw themselves!" Inuyasha growled and jumped up, taking another swipe at Yura. She faked a horrified gasp and stepped off the branch.

Inuyasha blinked, eyebrows disappearing beneath his bangs.

_What the hell?_

She was standing in midair!

"Confused, half blood?" she called down, smiling. "Surely I've explained this before. I can see my hairs; you cannot. I control my hairs; you cannot. I can walk on my hairs; you cannot. I can easily kill you, and you cannot escape your fate." She smirked and jerked her comb in Inuyasha's direction.

"We'll just see about that," he drawled, quickly sidestepping her hair.

Yura's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How are you able to see my hair?" she demanded. "Are you cheating? Tell me!"

"I can't see them," he admitted, smirking, "But I can sure as hell hear them. They make an awful lot of noise."

She pouted. "That's not fair!" Sending an experimental bunch of hairs at him, she hmphed as he moved a step out of the way again. "Well. This simply will not do."

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_Thud._

"Bitch!"

Kagome gave a small shriek and dove for the ground, covering her neck and the back of her head as well as she could. _Oh gods, he's found me! I should have known it would be sooner rather than later!_

But after a few long heartbeats passed, Kagome began to wonder if he knew she was there.

Hopefully she peeked up over the grass, only to duck back down again in fear. Yep, that was him all right. Time to make a break for it.

But just as she was preparing to run for the hills, she heard another woman's voice. It was deep and sultry, like a humid summer night spent sitting on the porch swing, drenched in sweat.

"La! You're such a bad boy, halfling. How _do_ you keep the girls at bay?"

"Halfling?" Kagome whispered to herself. _But he never said anything about being a half demon…then again, who would?_ Half-breeds were hated and feared in the human world and simultaneously despised and mocked in the demon world.

Against her better judgment she lifted her head back up and peered over at her kidnapper again. He was baring his fangs and growling at a strange woman.

Kagome gasped and blushed fiercely as she took a second look at the woman. She was wearing next to nothing!

Sure, Kagome had heard that prostitutes wore next to nothing, but wasn't she cold? Her loose-fitting black leotard barely covered her fanny, and was slit up the sides. The top was just as revealing, and even tighter than the bottom portion. She wore a red sash around her waist that held a sword in a rose-colored sheath. But that wasn't the strangest bit. Not by a long shot.

Crisscrossing through the air all around them were strands of hair. They were so tiny they were nearly invisible, but glinted and twinkled in the growing sunlight.

Inuyasha growled something indistinguishable and launched himself at her with bared fangs. He looked horribly fierce, like a rabid animal.

The woman did a little hop off the branch and into the air. Kagome's eyes bulged out of their sockets as she realized the woman wasn't going to come down. She was floating in midair! Even Inuyasha looked a little bewildered at the magic trick.

No, wait. Upon closer inspection Kagome realized the woman was standing on a few strands of hair. Apparently, they were far stronger than they looked. It was pretty impressive.

But why was Inuyasha trying to hurt her?

The woman smiled down at him, looking tremendously pleased with herself. "Confused, half blood?" she called out. "Surely I've explained this before. I can see my hairs; you cannot. I control my hair; you cannot. I can walk on my hairs; you cannot. I can easily kill you with my hair, and you… you cannot escape your fate." Her cute little smile turned into a vicious smirk and she jerked her comb down in Inuyasha's general direction.

Kagome's eyes widened. She was trying to kill him!

But was that a good thing or a bad thing?

It didn't seem to matter all that much—what would happen, would happen. Inuyasha merely dodged out of the way of her attacking hairs, anyway.

The woman's smirk faded into a pout. "How are you able to see my hair?" she demanded. "Are you cheating? Tell me!"

Kagome frowned in confusion. He wasn't supposed to be able to see her hair? Did that mean she wasn't supposed to be able to, either? But then how could she?

Inuyasha smirked. "I can't see them," he taunted, "But I can sure as hell hear them. They make an awful lot of noise."

The headache from last night was beginning to return. Inuyasha couldn't see the hair? Then how could she? He had demon blood! His eyesight had to be far better than hers! Didn't he see how they glinted where the light hit them? Kagome sighed exasperatedly and flopped back down so the tall grass blocked her view of the fight. It was all so surreal; it was almost like watching a show, sitting in the audience, completely immune from any and all harm.

"What is it, priestess? Do you find our disagreement vexing?" Kagome blinked as the words digested themselves. There was a priestess here? _Yes! See you later, Inuyasha, I'm outta here!_

Kagome grinned and sat up to look for the priestess. Priestesses fought demons and helped people! She could help Kagome get home, and then this entire ordeal would be nothing more than a bad memory.

As Kagome looked around the clearing for the sacred woman, she was vaguely aware of Inuyasha swearing again. Kagome nearly smirked. He was probably mad that the priestess had shown up.

Then Kagome met a pair of blood red eyes with her own and gulped.

Uh-oh.

"La!" the woman called to Kagome. "I haven't properly introduced myself, have I? I am Yura of the Hair. Would you like me to take you away from this awful half-demon?"

Kagome could merely sit there, stunned. There was no one else around but the three of them—Yura must have thought she was the priestess!

Inuyasha interrupted her panicked thoughts and placed himself solidly between her and the demoness. "Stay away from her!" He glanced at Kagome to see her gaping at him. "Don't just lie there, stupid! Get out of here!"

Yura giggled. "Aw, does the halfling have a new bitch?"

"Shut the hell up!" Inuyasha snarled and lunged at Yura. She merely pulled a few different hairs through her comb, sending them straight for him.

"Look out!" Kagome shrieked, finally scrambling to her feet. Inuyasha glanced back at her, frowning distractedly at her voice, and was caught up by Yura's threads.

Kagome cringed back timidly, closing her eyes against the sight of Inuyasha being beheaded and waiting for the sickening crunch she was sure to come. He'd jumped in front of her, shielding her from Yura, and what was the thanks she gave him? She distracted him, and now he was dead!

"Stupid wench!" Inuyasha cursed. "Don't just stand there! Run!"

Kagome cracked an eye open and breathed a sigh of relief. He had not been killed, as she had feared he would be, but the hairs caught him by the wrists and ankles and was now holding him prisoner. "Inuyasha--"

"Hold your tongue, wench!" Yura barked at her. Her hairs moved until they were within arm's distance of Kagome, and the demoness began to walk leisurely over to her.

"Did you think I was kidding?" Inuyasha yelled, "Run, damnit! Get out of here!"

But Kagome could only back slowly away in fear as Yura turned to snap at Inuyasha. "You should learn to hold your tongue as well," she hissed. Blood began seeping from Inuyasha's arms and ankles. "Or I'll cut it out of your mouth."

Inuyasha growled at her, nonchalantly ignoring his wounds. A few drops fell from his ankles and dripped onto the ground, staining it an ugly red-brown. "Keh. I'd like to see you try."

Yura smiled, a dangerous glint in her blood red eyes. "I will. As soon as I take care of your bitch, that is. She doesn't need her arms to find the jewel."

But when she turned back, Kagome was gone.

"What!" Yura cried, dismayed. "That stupid little wench! I'll wring her neck!"

Inuyasha just smirked. "I'd like to see you try. She's the jewel detector, remember?"

Yura shot a glare at him. "Fine," she pouted. In an instant, the death look was gone, replaced by her ditzy smile. "La! I won't kill her. I'll just frighten her a little. Stay here, puppy, I'll be back in a flash."

"I don't think so."

There was a sickening squelch and a crunch, and Yura gasped in surprise and looked down. There was a clawed and bloody hand protruding from her chest. Regaining her breath and frowning, she stepped away from Inuyasha, successfully pulling his arm out of her. Her face didn't betray a single wince of pain, merely annoyance. "Stupid halfling! It's not polite to touch a girl's front when you've just met her," she scolded.

Inuyasha could do nothing but gape at her. "How the hell are you not dead yet?" he demanded, baring his teeth. "Or going down, or at least showing some kind of reaction? I think I deserve that much for going to the trouble to get out of your stupid web!"

She smiled. "My body is stronger than yours, half demon," she purred, drawing her sword. "And as for your reward for going through all the trouble, I think a clean beheading will work quite nicely, don't you?"

Inuyasha ducked and jumped back as she dove at him, smiling sweetly with a maniacal glint in her eye.

"I just want your beautiful hair!" she pouted. "Is that too much to ask?"

"Lemme think about that for a moment—uh, _yeah,_" he snapped. She sent him a disapproving look. "What? You didn't think I'd agree, did you?"

"You're not much of a gentleman!" She was still pouting as she leveled the sword at him.

But before she had the chance to attack again, Inuyasha leapt up, slashing at her madly. "Iron reaver soul stealer!" he yelled, leaving a nasty scratch across her face with one hand and cutting her arm off about three inches above the wrist. Her arm fell lifelessly to the ground with a thump, still clutching the sword.

Inuyasha smirked. "Looks like your sword isn't much good anymore!" he called.

Yura giggled. She didn't seem to be in any particular discomfort, despite having a large hole in her chest and only one hand. "La! You don't actually think you've beaten me, do you? This fight has just begun!" She pulled at her comb with her teeth while holding it in her one good hand.

Inuyasha's eyebrow quirked itself in confusion before knotting in pain.

"Wha-? Holy _shit_," He swore, dropping to the ground to avoid the flying sword.

"How the hell did you-?" The demi-demon growled, irritated at being interrupted and rolled to the side, narrowly missing being impaled a second time. Yura settled herself down on a bed of hair so that she was reclining, happily watching the show.

Inuyasha growled a curse and dove to the side again. Yura's sword, with her severed hand still attached to it, whooshed past the side of his face again. If he hadn't moved, it would have gone through his neck.

Inuyasha grimaced. That would not have been pretty.

Or painless, for that matter.

Gritting his teeth and forcing himself to his feet, he growled a challenge at the demoness. "Don't like to fight your own battles, do you, witch?"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Yura asked, smiling delightedly as she came to her own conclusion. "La, halfling! How stupid you are! I _am_ fighting." She held up her comb as she threaded a few more hairs onto it. "You didn't think that arm of mine could move on its own, did you? Or the sword?" She giggled as she yanked on her comb violently, sending the sword flying through the air towards Inuyasha. "Never mind-- of course you did!"

Inuyasha snarled and tried to put the demoness out of his mind, focusing on avoiding being impaled. How the hell was he supposed to stop it? It was just a sword, and would likely keep coming at him even if he did manage to destroy the hand attached to it.

Inuyasha faltered slightly as inspiration struck and nearly smacked himself for being so stupid. All he had to do was stop Yura! Once the hairs that were operating the hand and sword were useless, it would cease in attacking him.

Her sword whooshed towards him with amazing accuracy, but once again he dodged. This time, though, he grabbed the hilt as it sped past his neck and wrestled it out of the air. For such a stupid object, it was putting up one hell of a fight! Inuyasha cursed and flung it as far away from them as he could, hoping it would buy him a minute or two to finish off Yura.

"Now," he smirked and turned to Yura, cracking his knuckles.

Except she wasn't there anymore. She had escaped, seeing through his simple plan and taking advantage of his distraction. "Damn it all! Where the hell did she go?"

Laughter answered him, echoing and bouncing off the trees. "Do you miss me already, half blood?"

"You coward!" he yelled. "Get back here!"

Silence answered him. She was gone.

"You stay away from the wench!" he bellowed at the silence. "She's my jewel detector!"

Inuyasha took off running, following the girl's scent. If he didn't get to her before Yura did, she was as good as dead. And that was something he would not allow. He'd been searching for the Shikon no Tama's priestess for years, damn it all, and he'd pull his own ears off before some minor demon offed him—or her-- just when they'd found each other.

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Kagome gasped in fright as she pitched forward, trying to bite back a yelp—and instead bit her tongue. Hard.

"Ouch!" she cringed as she scrambled to her feet, tasting blood. Her hand pressed up against the smooth trunk of a young tree before she pushed herself away to continue what felt like an endless marathon. She was shaking and had already fallen several times.

Who knew how klutzy you could get when you were scared?

And she _was_ scared. She'd been scared since she heard that horrible pattering of feet on the roof of her home last night—had it only been last night? It felt like years and years ago.

It had been Inuyasha on the roof, she knew that now. But why on earth did he have to take her away now? Life had been good; Sango was head over heels for Miroku and it was only a matter of time before she told him, Kaede's arthritis had decided to take a vacation, and now because of this stupid misadventure Kagome wouldn't even be there to appreciate the good times. Why couldn't Inuyasha waited a few more years, waited until she could take care of herself a little better, shoot a little better, maybe even have a fiancé or husband to help?

Her cluttered thoughts shifted back and forth as she kept running, from one topic to another and back again. Awkwardly she leapt over a log covered in vines and stumbled on.

Inuyasha had been the one to tell her to run. Why? Was he trying to protect her? Or just keep her out of Yura's hands? Kagome snorted and shook her head, tripping and nearly toppling over again in the process. No, it was probably the latter. She couldn't picture her kidnapper trying to save her because he liked her, or knew it was the right thing to do. He just wanted her to find that stupid jewel.

But then again, wasn't protecting her and keeping her out of Yura's hands the same thing?

_No,_ Kagome mused, _they were heavily intertwined, but they weren't they same thing._

"Hey! Wench!"

Kagome shrieked and half-tripped, half-dove for cover in the tall grass, hands covering her head and neck.

"Stupid girl, what're you waiting for? Get a move on!" the voice bellowed.

"Inuyasha!" Unbidden, a grin latched itself onto Kagome's lips as she poked her head back up to see him leaping from tree to tree and closing in on her fast. _Well what do you know,_ Kagome thought. _I never thought I'd be happy to see him, of all people._

"I thought you were fighting Yura!" she yelled at him. Well, it was more of a loud squeak.

"I am!" he yelled back, racing towards her and yanking her to her feet to pull her behind him protectively. His voice lowered to a more normal volume as he got closer. "You didn't think she was after me, did you?" he said as his eyes roved the surrounding trees while his ears twitched back and forth. "Stupid, she's after you! Why fight when you can grab what you came for and go?"

Kagome gaped, having tuned out the rest of his sentence after hearing that it was her the demoness wanted.

"Why is she after _me?_" she squeaked. "I haven't done anything, I swear!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and shrugged off his haori. "Here."

But she shook her head and refused to take it. "You don't want to give me that. I'm all sweaty and gross."

He thrust it in her face and she automatically distanced herself. It smelled like the wilderness, like pine and fresh air, and something oddly masculine. "I'll wash it," he said flatly. "Now here."

"I'm not cold," she insisted. "Really. I've been running like crazy."

The dog-demon growled at her, his patience wearing thin. "It's for protection, not warmth, stupid! It's armor!"

Kagome blinked owlishly at him. "Armor?" she repeated incredulously. _As soon as this is all over, I'm taking a nice, long nap._

_Yeah, right,_ a little voice in the back of her head replied with a smirk. _He wants to go find that jewel right away, remember?_

Kagome mentally scowled at the voice. _If he doesn't like it, he can just carry me to wherever we're going! I'm tired!_

Inuyasha's growl grew in volume, and Kagome sighed and took the hint, sliding into the bright red haori. "It's made from the fur of a fire rat," he said gruffly, determinedly looking in the other direction. When had be suddenly become so shy? "It's stronger than that pathetic stuff humans call armor."

Despite the fact that it was his fault she was in any danger at all, Kagome felt a pang of guilt. What if he needed it? She looked up at him unable to keep the worry off her face.

Their eyes met, and as if he was reading her thoughts, the dog-demon smirked arrogantly. "My body is much stronger than your weak human one."

Any and all sympathetic feelings flew out the window. Kagome's eyes narrowed. "You're the one doing all the fighting," she pointed out. Why was she arguing with him again?

Oh, yeah. Because she'd rather have a barbarian than a psychopath. "If either of us are going to get hurt, it's bound to be you."

"Feh. It is not."

"Is too," she countered.

"Is not!"

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is not."

"Is t—aw, shit," the half demon grumbled while Kagome snickered. "We don't have time for this." He crouched in front of her. "Get on."

Kagome's smile dropped and she looked stricken. "What?"

"What do you think I said?" he snapped, "Get on, wench!"

What an inappropriate request, and of all times to make it! "You want to give me a _piggy back ride_ at a time like _this?_" she asked shrilly. "Inuyasha, I know that brain of yours is small, but even you should be able to understand--"

"Stop being a ninny and get on!" he snarled. Yura was coming, he could smell it. The wind had shifted, painting a mental picture for him. She was gliding along on her acursed hairs, smiling and humming under her breath. "We need to keep moving, and you can't move fast enough to keep up! You're just a weak human!"

"Humans aren't weak!" she retorted, but settled herself as comfortably as she could on his back. As she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, he griped her thighs and she tensed, willing herself not to flinch.

"Relax," he grumbled. "We've been over this before. I'm not gonna hurt you."

Kagome blushed, but whether it was due to her compromising position, or from being caught uncomfortable and nervous, she wasn't sure. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Inuyasha didn't bother to reply as he took off running again, this time with a human girl on his back.

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Eight pages this time! These things just keep getting longer and longer, don't they? Now, go press the blue button down at the left-hand corner and review, s'il vous plaites!


	5. The Red Skull

**Authoress' Notes:** Aren't you _PROUD_ of me! It hasn't even been a full month, and I've got another chapter out! I hope this makes up for some of my slowness in the past… and gives you patience in the future. Because school is starting tomorrow, and god only knows how much time I'll have to write.

A **warning** for ye who are squeamish! More people get stabbed and burned and cussed at in this chapter… ;;

**Disclaimer:** Don't remind me… Seriously. Please. Just… don't.

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**The Piper's Well**

**NewSalemWitch**

Chapter 5: The Red Skull 

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**Previously, on TPW: **

"Humans aren't weak!" she retorted, but settled herself as comfortably as she could on his back. As she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, he griped her thighs and she tensed, willing herself not to flinch.

"Relax," he grumbled. "We've been over this before. I'm not gonna hurt you."

Kagome blushed, but whether it was due to her compromising position, or from being caught uncomfortable and nervous, she wasn't sure. "Sorry," she mumbled.

Inuyasha didn't bother to reply as he took off running again, this time with a human girl on his back.

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Kagome squinted into the wind and pulled a piece of Inuyasha's hair out of her mouth.

"Stop squirming," he grumbled.

"Sorry."

Slowly her eyelids slid to half-mast, and Kagome leaned her head against the back of his shoulder. "Does it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?" he snapped. Would it _kill_ her not to talk?

"Your ankles and wrists." Kagome was too tired to start another fight with her captor. If they lived through this, there would be plenty of other times to bicker.

"Keh. It takes a lot more than that to put me out of commission. I'm not a--"

Without willing it her eyes began to close. "A weak human, I know."

"Keh."

Time passed, and Kagome found herself lulled by the dog demon's pace. It was steady, besides being occasionally interrupted by a leap that took them twenty feet or more.

Slowly, through the haze occupying her mind, Kagome realized that Inuyasha was steadily increasing his pace.

"What's the matter?" she mumbled. "Not that I mind or anything, but why are you speeding up?"

"She's coming," was the growled reply.

Kagome's eyes opened automatically, nervously glancing at the green blurs of trees as they sped past. "Oh." She blinked a few times to make sure her eyes would stay open and moved her head to peer out over Inuyasha's shoulder. "Oh! Stop! Look out! Lookoutlookoutlookout!"

Inuyasha skidded to a stop, gagging as her grip around his neck intensified.

"Oh—sorry." Kagome ignored his antics and slid out of his grip and down until her feet touched the ground, though she kept one hand on his sleeve for reassurance.

"Hey—wench, what the hell do you think we're doing?" He took half a step forward and tried to brush her off, but her grip tightened and she tugged him back again.

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

Inuyasha growled exasperatedly. "I see what you're doing--"

"Then why did you bother asking?"

"Shut up! Why are you hanging on to me like I'm some kind of teddy bear?"

"Don't you _see_ that?" she asked shrilly.

"See what?" he glared at her, and she glared right back, pointing behind him.

"That!"

Inuyasha growled in frustration. "I don't see anything, wench!" he barked. _Shit, shit, shit. How am I supposed to protect us if I can see what I'm supposed to be fighting?_

Kagome was trembling despite her attempts to suppress it. "But it's so big!"

He reached around and grasped her the hand on his sleeve, squeezing reassuringly. "What is it?"

She took a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh of air, trying to calm herself. Would this day never end? "It's a giant… ball of hair, I think. But it's covered in skulls!"

"Shit!" Inuyasha dropped his hand and glanced around with an angry glint in his eye. "She led us right into her trap! This is her home territory, I'll bet you."

Her eyes widened. "Yura?" Inuyasha nodded shortly.

"La!" Yura's giggle resonated throughout the clearing. "What a surprise- vistors! How very wonderful. Hello again, priestess."

Kagome's eyebrows shot down furiously and her posture straightened. She let go of Inuyasha's sleeve and took a step forward. "Stop calling me that!" she yelled furiously, "Just go away and leave m—leave us alone!"

"I leave soon, dearie, but you're coming with me when I do," Yura said, "and your little half-blood will be staying, don't worry." She giggled again. "I can't _wait_ to get my hands on his lovely hair."

Kagome took another step forward, anger fueling her recklessness. Really, challenging a demon—even if it was only verbally—probably wasn't the smartest move. She didn't notice the pinkish glow her skin had acquired.

She opened her mouth to let that one-armed idiot have it. "You stupid little--"

She stopped short when she felt a restraining hand on her arm. She looked back, startled to see Inuyasha frowning at the demoness. Then he grinned. "I bet you wish she was on your side, don't you?"

"She will be, soon enough," Yura hissed, pulling out her comb.

He smirked. "Not if I kill you first."

"Stop bluffing," She scoffed, "You're a mere half-demon who can't even see my individual hairs, let alone my collection."

"But I can!" Kagome butted in furiously, taking another step forward. Inuyasha tugged her back. "And you can be sure I'll help him!"

"You don't need to," Inuyasha told her, smirking. "I can see her 'collection.'"

Kagome looked up at him in confusion. He didn't seem to be bluffing, but just a moment ago he'd said he couldn't see anything. What on earth was going on?

"Inuyasha--"

"Just trust me, okay?"

Yura let out a bark of laughter. "Oh, la! That's rich! A half-demon, asking for the trust of a mortal he kidnapped! I never thought I'd see the day!"

"Put a sock in it!" Inuyasha cracked his knuckles and addressed Kagome. "You, wench, go take cover."

Her first impulse was to loudly and vehemently refuse, but reason held her back. _He's looking out for me,_ Kagome reminded herself, forcing her limbs to move away from the two demons. "Right. Okay." Dry leaves crunched as she stumbled away, looking for cover.

"La, come back here!" Yura pouted, taking out her comb.

Kagome glanced back to see those awful red eyes trained on her. "Eep! Inuyasha!"

"I got it covered," Inuyasha grunted and charged at Yura.

Kagome glanced back again. "Inuyasha, look out! To your left!"

The dog demon growled and swiped at what appeared to him to be air, but he felt his claws connect with something that felt like—well, hair. He smirked. Maybe the wench could pull some of her own weight after all.

Yura's face contorted with fury and she sent her sword flying in Kagome's direction. It began to whistle as it picked up speed, yet still the hand attached hung on, flapping slightly as it trailed along behind. "Stay out of this, wench! You're cheating!"

Kagome shrieked at the sight of the sword, and Inuyasha cursed violently. "Use the haori, you stupid wench!"

"What!"

"It'll protect you!" he yelled over his shoulder, taking an experimental slash at the giant ball of hair in the middle of the clearing. Instantly, Yura changed the sword's direction and it swung around to come whistling over at him.

"Keep your filthy paws off my collection!" Yura shrieked around the hair in her mouth. She was keeping up spectacularly with only one arm. She'd been using her teeth to thread her hairs through the comb.

Inuyasha jumped away from the ball of skulls and hair to land only a few yards from where Yura hovered. "You're really trying my patience," he growled.

Yura merely smirked and started playing cat's cradle with her comb.

With another, fiercer, growl Inuyasha launched himself at her fang and claws bared.

"Look out! Get out of there!" Kagome shrieked.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped just before being caught up by his wrists and ankles again. "Shit! Stupid wench, why didn't you warn me?"

"I did!"

"No you didn't!"

"I did too, you stupid jerk!"

"No you didn't, bitch!"

"Quit your whining, half-demon." Yura rolled her eyes. Honestly, if he didn't have such beautiful hair, she wouldn't even bother with him. "Now, girl, it's your turn."

Kagome whimpered and turned to escape as Inuyasha yelled at her, "Run!"

Yura tsked. The priestess didn't even get three steps before her hair had swooped down and caught her, suspending her in a fashion similar to the half-demon's. Yura scrutinized her prey carefully before shaking her head a bit regretfully. "La, I don't think you're worth the trouble of finding that damn jewel anymore. You don't even know how to look for it, do you?" Kagome shook her head frantically, eyes wide with fear. _Please don't kill me. I'm of no use to you; just set me free and let me go home._

"Leave her alone, you bitch!" Inuyasha shouted, pulling at his bindings.

Yura ignored him and pulled a few strings through her comb. Her sword flew up to hover beside Yura, directing its point in the direction of Kagome's stomach.

The hair demoness smiled. "Good-bye, little girl. See you in Hell."

"Damn it all, let her go! I need her to find that damned jewel!" Yura smirked as Inuyasha continued to yell obscenities.

Kagome's eyes scrunched themselves tightly shut as she braced herself for the impact that would end her life in a horribly painful manner. "_Oof._"

But all that came was a sensation poking at her stomach, much like when Sango had been trying to teach her hand-to-hand fighting and had accidentally punched her in the stomach. "Ow," she gasped, cracking an eye open.

"What magic is this?" Yura scowled deeply before smiling happily. "La! Perhaps you have spiritual powers after all." And she tried to hurt Kagome again, this time slashing at her arm.

"Ow!" she protested, "Stop it! That hurts!"

The demoness ignored her, examining every inch of her carefully. Her hand reached out to tug at Kagome's clothes, and Inuyasha growled menacingly.

But Yura wasn't deterred in the slightest. "La… what's this?" she asked quietly, a smile growing on her face. "A fire rat robe? This must be yours, half-blood." Had she glanced behind back, she would have seen Inuyasha's angry glower.

"Bitch," he spat.

That was all the response Yura needed. Her smile widened and raised her gaze to Kagome's, who was trying not to cringe. "So it is yours! Well, it won't keep her head on her shoulders, should I chose to separate them."

Kagome blanched. "Inuyasha…" She closed her eyes. Why was she calling to him for help? He was as trapped as she was. _Kaede… Sango… I'm sorry I didn't get to say good-bye…_

"_Iron reaver soul stealer!"_

Kagome's heart flew to her throat as she fell, only to be caught by a strong pair of arms. She opened her eyes and grinned in relief, throwing her arms around her savior. "Inyasha!"

His cheeks were tinged pink. "Keh." He gently put her down a little way away, far enough to be out of the way of most of the immediate danger. "Now stay here, and stop trying to get yourself killed."

"La, half-blood, I must say I've been more than patient with you," Yura exclaimed sharply, "Honestly, though, I'm getting quite tired of all this."

Inuyasha hopped a good twenty feet forward in the direction of the hair demon. He smirked, arrogant as ever. "So? You saying you want me to finish you off?"

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Kagome nervously watched them bicker. _Inuyasha, please be careful…I'd rather be stuck with you than with her._

A flash of red caught her eye, glinting like a piece of glass in the rising sun from the top of Yura's collection of skulls and hair. Kagome squinted up at it. It was… a red skull? She shuddered. Creepy. Her attention was brought back to the fight as Yura laughed her petite laugh and Inuyasha cursed.

"To your right, Inuyasha!" she called, "Wait, no! The hair is coming in from both sides! Look out!"

He jumped and flipped, landing only a few feet from where the hair demoness hovered in midair. "Stupid wench, don't tell me to wait! I don't have any time to wait around for you to find the right words!"

_He'll be fine for a few minutes,_ Kagome reassured herself as her eyes strayed to the red skull at the top of the hair mound again. _But that skull… there's something wrong with it. It's… alive? No, that's not the word. But if it's red, and all the other skulls are white… sort of… but I'd bet anything that it's important._ She grinned, finally feeling useful.

She slunk as quietly as she could over to the mound, trying not to attract attention with any sudden movements. She glanced back at the two demons still locked in combat. They were completely absorbed with the other's movements, trying to find a weakness to break through. Inuyasha was obviously the better fighter, but no matter what he threw at Yura, she refused to show any sign that she might have been in pain. "You damn witch!" he snarled at her.

Yura smirked at him. "La, darling, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen!"

Inuyasha returned her comment with curses that would make a sailor blush.

Kagome frowned at the hair demoness. Yura certainly was irritating, with her slutty clothing and perky smiles. But she was also very, very dangerous. She had a secret, one that was obviously closely guarded, but if it came to light it would help to destroy her. _I'm sure of it. She's got some kind of mortal weakness, some minor detail that we've overlooked._ Kagome thought fiercely and glanced up. _The skull… that's it! That must be her weakness!_

Quietly bracing herself, Kagome hesitantly placed her hand on the side of the hair. It wriggled slightly beneath her fingers and she couldn't help but shudder in disgust. Don't say anything, don't even open your mouth, don't say anything, don't even open your mouth, don't say anything… Kagome was sure if she squeaked a peep, Yura would hear and come after her again. At this point, she was fairly certain Inuyasha would at least divert the hair demon's attention back to himself to protect her, but it was better not to tempt fate. After all, how many times had they gotten away with that now?

Steeling herself, she grabbed a fistful of hair in both hands and hauled herself up. Then she dug her feet into the hair, praying it would hold her weight. A long moment passed before she let out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding.

Tentatively, she repeated the process. Then she did it again, and again and again. Higher and higher she climbed until finally she dared to look down.

Her ears roared and her vision swam. "Oh, gods," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut and turning her face up to the sky. Her panic caused her to revert to denial, reminding her of the impossibility of the situation. _I'm clinging to the side of a giant ball of dead men's hair while my kidnapper, a half dog demon with gold eyes and white hair—let's not forget the dog ears either—fights a hair demon to protect me so we can go on our merry way and find some magic rock I've never even heard of._

The hopelessness slowly ebbed away, and Kagome returned to her climbing. But she couldn't help but wonder aloud, "Oh, gods, how does this happen?"

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Yura's ears caught the whisper and furiously whirled on the frightened girl, shooting fire at her from the blood red comb. "Abominable wretch! Stay away from my collection!"

Inuyasha watched in horror as Kagome shrieked and let go of the hair to fall a good fifteen feet. By the time her body hit the ground with an audible _whump_, she was covered in a ball of flames. "No!" He moved to go to her and help put the flames out, but was blocked by Yura. "Damnit, no!"

The demoness smiled. "Yes, half breed."

Inuyasha's gaze darkened, and he cracked his knuckles menacingly. "_You_… are going to die," he spat.

Yura opened her mouth to give a retort, but he had already begun his attack. His anger was fueling him nicely, she noted as he swiped at her neck. She jerked back and sent her sword after him. If she was the type to worry about blood loss and decapitation and the sort, she'd be more than impressed—she'd be dead. "It's a shame you can't kill me," she taunted smoothly as he battled her sword.

"Shut up!" he bellowed. "Don't underestimate me! I'm stronger than you and I _will_ kill you!" His golden eyes were flecked with specks of red.

"You really are angry, aren't you?" She smirked as he thrust her sword into the ground, hilt-deep, in hopes of putting it out of commission long enough for him to kill her.

"Damn straight!" The sword, unfortunately, had no intention in staying in the ground. After attempting to free itself by jerking up and nothing happened, Inuyasha turned on Yura with a snarl.

He leapt at her, fangs bared and claws glinting in the rising sunlight. She stood about twenty feet off the ground, betraying nothing more than a flash of alarm when he came at her. But it quickly passed, and Inuyasha had no more warning than a smirk and a soft whistling sound before a searing pain sped through his abdomen.

Looking down, he grimaced in pain. The end of Yura's sword protruded from his stomach, dripping blood onto the ground below him. He gasped for breath and the ground came to hit him hard and fast. The sword was thrust back out most of the way when he landed on his front, biting back a yell.

"Stronger than me, eh?" Yura stood over him and shrugged dramatically. "La. Half-blood, half-strength. I should have known." She floated down, putting her comb in the sash around her waist, and reached down to roughly jerk the sword out of Inuyasha's abdomen. He grunted in pain, but refused to show any other weakness.

Had he looked up, he would have seen Yura's chipper smile. "La! Now I can finally have that beautiful hair of yours."

Inuyasha pushed himself up slowly, trying to stand. "Over my dead body," he growled.

Yura smacked him with the flat side of the blade, knocking him over again. "That's what I was counting on," she quipped. "And now I shall meet your demands. Good bye, halfling!" She raised the sword, giggling as the sun hit it, bouncing back into Inuyasha's eyes. He was trying to stand again.

"Yura!"

Said demoness turned and shaded her eyes against the sun. There was a girl standing at the top of her hair collection. She scowled deeply. "What're you still doing alive?" she demanded, "There's not a human alive who could live through my fire." She turned to glare at Inuyasha, smacking him again with the blade and leaving him with a fine line of blood that trickled down his arm. "It's your fault, isn't it? Damn you and that dratted armor of yours. And damn that girl, too, while I'm at it. Damn the both of you."

Kagome smirked, putting on a brave Inuyasha-like front. "I wouldn't kill him if I were you," she called down. Really, standing on an unsteady mound of hair thirty feet off the ground was not fun. The sooner she got off, the happier she'd be.

But first, she had to find out if the red skull was important.

"Really?" Yura quirked an eyebrow. "La! And why is that?"

Kagome held up a small red object, and Yura's inquisitive tone turned murderous. "You'll put that down, little girl, if you've any idea what's good for you!"

Inuyasha coughed and stumbled forward, preparing to jump and whisk Kagome out of there. "Get outta here, wench!"

Yura turned her rage on him and her hairs shot forward. Kagome shrieked a warning, but it almost came too late. "Inuyasha! Behind you!"

He dodged once, twice, thrice before Yura lost interest in him. She turned back to Kagome, dropping the sword and pulling out her comb. Kagome visibly gulped, but held firm. What she was holding firm to she wasn't entirely sure-- but she refused to give in!

_It's too bad I didn't think this all the way through… She practically told me the skull is important, big whoop. Now what?_

"Your time is _up_, little priestess!" Yura may have dropped the sword, but her hairs had picked it up and sent it hurtling at Kagome.

Kagome glanced down. Inuyasha would never get to her in time; he was too far away.

So she did the first thing that came to her mind: she held the red skull up in front of her and closed her eyes in a grimace, expecting the worse. Somewhere in the back of her mind Inuyasha's shout of "You stupid girl! MOVE!" registered, but failed to spur her into action.

She'd half hoped the skull would be precious enough in Yura's eyes to keep her from going through with her attack, but as she cracked her eye open it appeared that would not be the case. She didn't see Yura's stricken face as she frantically tried to use her comb to call her hair off.

All she saw was the katana's razor sharp blade speeding directly toward her.

She watched in morbid fascination as time slowed to a crawl. The sword embedded itself in the skull, stopping as it reached the hilt, inches from Kagome's neck. Her thumb started to bleed sluggishly as it scraped against the sharp edge of the weapon. In the back of her mind she noted that she was lucky to not have lost it; as it was the cut was barely more than a paper cut.

Inuyasha was yelling again, and Yura was screaming hysterically. Kagome paid them no mind.

The red skull in her hands cracked and shattered into hundreds of small pieces, slipping through her fingers to bury themselves in the nest of hair. A few fell to the ground, thirty feet below. The sword slipped out of her hands, and the hand that had attached itself to the hilt began to sizzle and disintegrate.

_Ew._

Then Kagome found herself leaning backward from the momentum of the katana's impact. Then she was leaning too far and began to fall. _Well this is just perfect,_ she thought dryly, _I've saved us both, and now I'm going to land on my head and break my neck. Just beautiful._

She squeezed her eyes shut just as time returned to normal. The wind began to rush past her as she fell, and a scream wrenched itself free of her throat. Then she was jolted out of her terror as she felt two strong arms catch her. She opened her eyes. "Thanks," she told Inuyasha shakily, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him an impulsive hug. Kidnapper or no, he had saved her from Yura.

"Keh."

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Yura had disintegrated just like her arm after the red skull had been destroyed.

Inuyasha explained to Kagome that the demoness had likely kept her soul in the skull, so the only way she could be defeated was by destroying the red skull.

Kagome hadn't said much after that.

He came to stand beside her, watching her out of the corner of his eye. "Hey." She ignored him, blinking as her eyes slowly roved around the clearing, taking in the bloodstained ground and trees, the crumbled red skull, the bloody sword and the late demoness' clothing lying on the ground a few feet away. Kagome didn't answer him, didn't even acknowledge his presence.

Even in the short time that he'd known her, he knew this wasn't normal. She had been so bubbly, so sharp, so… _vibrant_ when they'd spoken the night before. Even during the fight she'd kept it together pretty well. Sure, she'd screamed in a high-pitched voice repeatedly, but that was to be expected. She was human, and inexperienced in the ways of battle. So he tried again. "You all right?" No answer.

"Hey. Did you hear me, wench?" Silence. "I asked if you were all right."

She shrugged listlessly, but still refused to answer, or even look at him.

Inuyasha frowned, beginning to lose his patience. What was _that_ supposed to mean? "You're not hurt, are you?"

Kagome held up her hand, displaying her wounded thumb. It had long ago stopped bleeding, but it throbbed a little.

Inuyasha examined it, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the scent of her blood. "You'll live," he told her. "We'll patch it up when we get back to camp."

Kagome shrugged and sat down on the grass. Her eyes never once left Yura's katana.

Inuyasha watched her lethargic movements and ground his teeth together, silently counting to ten.

All of her movements seemed slow, as if she were swimming in molasses. Her face was blank, and though she wasn't staring into space her eyes moved slowly and lacked its usual spark. Even her breathing seemed sluggish. He listened carefully. So was her heartbeat… _Well, that's not a good sign._

Then it dawned on him, and he nearly smacked himself for not seeing it before. She'd gone into shock! This was probably her first time being attacked… if you didn't count that he'd kidnapped her the night before…

He crouched down in front of her, scrutinizing her as she blinked again and her eyes slowly focused on him. She was awfully pale. "She didn't scare you, did she?"

There was a pause, as if she were having trouble finding her voice. Then came the soft, jerky reply. Her voice sounded underused, and Inuyasha had to strain his ears to hear. "Sort of. I guess."

Deciding there was nothing he could do about it, he stood and offered his hand. "Come on. We should get back to camp." The best thing for her would be to snap out of it, but he didn't have the faintest idea on how to help. Maybe if he just acted normally?

Yeah, right. If anything, that would send her off the deep end.

She stood without his help, but he did notice her breathing returned to normal for a moment. "Yeah. Camp." Then again, it was probably just the movement that made her heart speed up.

He turned and started walking, secretly glancing back to see if she would follow. She was his prisoner, after all, and this wretched day had started when she had tried to escape. Who was to say she wouldn't try it again? "C'mon."

She stood there for a long moment, staring at the ground. Her breathing had slowed down again, but her heart was beating faster than before. She seemed to be contemplating something.

Then she shook her head. Either she knew he could see, or she didn't care if he couldn't.

He turned and scrutinized her. Her face was pale and drawn, and her hands were trembling.

No, he realized. It wasn't just her hands. She was trembling all over—she really had gone into shock, hadn't she?

"C'mon," he repeated, calmer and more patient that he usually was. "You're in shock. You're not thinking clearly. Let's get back to camp."

"No," she whispered. "No. I don't want to. …I want to go home."

"And I want to be a full demon," he retorted. So much for being patient. But really, there was only so much a half demon could stand. "We'll both get what we want, it'll just take some time."

She looked up at him, her gaze dull and angry at the same time. "This… all of this…it's all _your_ fault," she accused as vehemently as she could.

Inuyasha merely snorted. "Whatever."

"No—listen to me!" Kagome frowned violently, and walked up to him, pointing her finger right in front of his nose. Her voice rose and her heart rate slowly but surely returned to normal. "Do you know what I'd be doing right now if it weren't for you? I'd be weeding the garden! I wouldn't be wandering around in the woods, or running from crazy psychopaths who wear hardly any clothes, or—or—you get my point!"

Inuyasha noticed with satisfaction that the color was beginning to return to her cheeks. The shaking had ceased as well. "Yeah. I do," he said, smirking. "Ask me if I care."

Her fists clenched, and for a moment he wondered if she'd physically lash out at him. Not that she could actually hurt him, of course, but she looked awfully angry.

"You-- you JERK!"

He winced and his ears flattened against his head, trying block out the shrieking. "Hey! Bitch, keep it down! You're making my ears bleed!"

"JERK! I'll quiet down when I WANT to! NOT A MINUTE BEFORE!" she screeched at him.

"Shut UP!" he roared back.

"NO!"

"WHY THE HELL NOT!"

"Because I WANT to go HOME!"

"TOO FREAKING BAD!"

And with one last "JERK! I hate you!" Kagome turned on her heel and stomped off into the trees—in the opposite direction of camp.

Growling some choice words, Inuyasha jumped in front of her and cut her off, scowling fiercely. "Camp is _that_ way, bitch," he gritted out, pointing behind his prisoner.

"Don't call me that!" Kagome snapped. Her own scowl was equally fierce, and she refused to back down, meeting her kidnapper's gaze squarely. "You know my name— use it!"

Inuyasha's scowl became a supercilious smirk. "Make me—wench."

Kagome looked down and brought a hand to her forehead. "Please." She sounded like she was exasperated and bone weary.

An eyebrow cocked itself in surprise. "What?" He'd been expecting another tirade, but instead he got manners? Who had dropped this girl on her head as a child?

Her voice was still quiet. "Please. All I want is to go home. You can call me whatever you want, just let me go home."

He almost wanted to, the way her shoulders slumped, and the soft pleading in her voice. But he couldn't. She was the only way to find the Shikon no Tama. "We've been over this before, Kagome," he said roughly. "Once you find me the jewel you can go home. Hell, I'll even escort you there myself so you don't get your stupid ass killed on the way there."

She looked up, eyes suspiciously bright. "How long do you think it will take?"

"To find the jewel? I dunno, maybe a few months." If they were _really_ lucky. If they had any luck at all, it would take less than a few years.

"A few _months?_" Kagome's voice wavered and her eyes filled with tears. "And I'm just supposed to let everyone worry and not even send word that I'm _alive?_"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and sighed, mostly at his own softness. "Look, don't cry! When we get to the first city we come to you can…" Inuyasha considered his options. What would get the wench to stop crying but wouldn't jeopardize his quest? "you can send word back to your grandmother and tell her you're alive. But no telling her where we are, what we're doing, or where we're going. Deal?"

Kagome surreptitiously wiped at her eyes, sniffling pitifully. _If I'm still with you by then._ "All right. How long will that be?"

"Only a week or so," Inuyasha said, relieved she didn't seem to be ready to start bawling anymore. "Now—let's go back to camp."

Kagome nodded tentatively. "…Thank you."

"For…?" However much he'd like it to be so, it didn't seem probable she'd be thanking him for allowing her to send a message back to her family.

"For using my name." She didn't realize he noticed her small smile. Truth be told, he hadn't even noticed.

"Keh. Stupid wench."

"Jerk."

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**A/N:** Gods above, I'm glad Yura's dead. She was getting on my nerves. . ;;

Also, I need feedback. Did Inu-chan seem too weak right after Yura stabbed him? Was Yura killed off too fast? Should I have made her actual death more dramatic?

Also, I'm taking a poll for the next chapter. (No details, though, because I'm mean like that.) A gypsy fortune teller, or Baba Yaga? Please tell me in your review!

Thanks, all! The next chapter will be up ASAP!


	6. Bickering 'Round the Campfire

**A/N:** Wow. This chapter _really_ wanted to be written. Lucky you! If it hadn't, it would have taken even longer to get out.

Seriously, I am sorry it took so long. Things got really, really rough… and then they got better, and I was so busy enjoying it I was too lazy to write. Sorry again!

And "mou" is a noise that somebody makes when they're pouting.

**Disclaimer:** I have a Sango key chain AND a Shippo key chain! How pro is that? Oh, but I don't own Inuyasha. Yet. :cackles:

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_Previously, on The Piper's Well:_

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and sighed, mostly at his own softness. "Look, don't cry! When we get to the first city we come to you can…" Inuyasha considered his options. What would get the wench to stop crying but wouldn't jeopardize his quest? "you can send word back to your grandmother and tell her you're alive. But no telling her where we are, what we're doing, or where we're going. Deal?"

Kagome surreptitiously wiped at her eyes, sniffling pitifully. _If I'm still with you by then._ "All right. How long will that be?"

"Only a week or so," Inuyasha said, relieved she didn't seem to be ready to start bawling anymore. "Now—let's go back to camp."

Kagome nodded tentatively. "…Thank you."

"For…?" However much he'd like it to be so, it didn't seem probable she'd be thanking him for allowing her to send a message back to her family.

"For using my name." She didn't realize he noticed her small smile. Truth be told, he hadn't even noticed.

"Keh. Stupid wench."

"Jerk."

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"I'm fine!" Inuyasha snarled, stomping away from that nosy, noisy, idiot human girl. _Out of every single freakin' person on the entire freakin' planet, it had to be her, didn't it?_

"I can't _believe_ you!" The disbelief in Kagome's voice as she jogged after him made that more than obvious. "You were _run through_ with a sword and now you expect me to believe you're just _peachy?_"

"I'm a half demon," he growled for the five thousandth, two hundred and thirty-sixth time. "I heal a hell of a lot faster than you wimpy humans. I can take a lot more, too."

"I don't care how much demon blood you've got, you were run through! Don't try to tell me it didn't hurt!"

"Of course it hurt, you idiot! But it's not going to kill me, and I don't need to be fawned over like some kind of pet!"

Kagome stopped walking and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at his back. "I'm not fawning over you!" she yelled at him when he didn't stop.

"Bitch!"

"JERK! Stop calling me that!"

Inuyasha chose to ignore her words. "Stop worrying about me and get your ass moving! You want to make it back to camp before nightfall, don't you?"

She made an exasperated noise, but his only response was the flick of an ear. "We've got at least five hours before sundown!"

"We'd have more if you didn't need to stop and rest so much!"

Kagome's eyebrow twitched. "I'm not the only one who needs rest, Inuyasha," she said sweetly. "Especially when _you're_ the one leaving a _blood trail, _you twit!"

He turned to face her with an almost disgusted expression. "Did you just call me a _twit?_"

Kagome snickered. "Did I stutter?"

"You called me a twit? A _twit?_ Do you even know what a twit _is?_"

"Of course I do, stupid!"

He continued as if she hadn't spoken. "It's a scramble-brained idiot who can't think for himself and runs around like a chicken with its head cut off at the first sign of trouble." He smirked. "Not unlike yourself."

"Jerk! I'm not a twit, you are!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Wench!"

"Jerk!"

"You've already used that one!"

"Moron!"

"Wretch!"

"Idiot!"

"Bitch!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Don't call you that?" Inuyasha repeated incredulously. "Don't _call_ you that! _You're_ the one who started the name calling!"

Kagome marched up to him and cuffed his ear, earning herself another curse. "I never called you a b-- an illegitimate kid, did I?"

Instead of retorting with yet another curse, he rubbed his sore ear while regarding her with an amused look. "You won't say it?"

"Say what?"

"You know what. Bastard."

Kagome glared at him and tried to shrug it off. "What does it matter?"

Inuyasha smirked. "You don't curse, do you?"

She sent him another glare and started walking again, refusing to answer.

He laughed at her retreating form. "Have you ever?"

She whirled on him, scowling unhappily. "So what if I haven't? Maybe I don't want people to think I'm uncouth, unlike _somebody_."

He was still chuckling. "Who cares what people think?"

"I'm the granddaughter of a priestess," she replied, rolling her eyes. "What I do is reflected on Kaede, and I don't intend to disappoint her any more than I have to."

His eyebrow quirked in curiosity. "Any more than you have to? What does that mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," Kagome retorted, turning away. "Now come on. You want to be back at camp before sundown, don't you?"

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Kagome staggered into camp and collapsed on her makeshift bed, sighing in relief. It was so nice to finally be able to lie down. She rolled on to her back and relaxed, letting her eyes slide shut. "Gods above, I'm beat."

"You wouldn't be if you hadn't run off this morning," Inuyasha muttered, and she frowned but didn't open her eyes.

"I wouldn't have run off if you hadn't kidnapped me," she retorted. He scowled at her, and she almost smirked. Almost.

She sat up and stretched. The sun wouldn't set for another few hours, but the air had already lost most of its heat. "Is there a stream around here? Or better yet, a lake?"

Inuyasha was crouched over the fire pit. He didn't even look up. "There's a pond about two hundred yards that way."

"Thanks." Kagome stood and began gathering a few necessities. It was amazing what Inuyasha had thought to bring—and what he hadn't thought of. Soap, for instance. Baths required soap. It was a hideous bag, too; a worn yellow that had turned mustard colored with age. It was huge, almost as big as—

Wait a minute.

"This is _my_ bag!" Kagome exclaimed. She turned an accusing glare on her dog-eared kidnapper. "You stole my bag!"

When he snorted but didn't say anything, she stood and turned to face him completely, looking appalled. "Inuyasha, you stole my bag!"

"So?" he retorted, "It's just a bag."

"But you _stole_--"

"I stole you too, didn't I?" he interrupted, returning her scandalized glare. "So what if I stole your bag, too?"

"But that means you stole it out of my room!" she accused, "What were you doing in my room?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and shrewdly sidestepped her demand. "Gods above, woman, it's a frikkin' bag! Get over it!"

"You didn't answer my question, Inuyasha!"

"What question?"

Kagome let out a strangled exclamation. "This is ridiculous. I need a bath. I'll be back to deal with you later." She picked up a spare blanket, deciding it could easily be used as a towel.

_I should bring back some water, too, so Inuyasha's wound can be cleaned,_ she thought, _At least he thought to bring bandages._

"Oh, no you don't!" In a flash, Inuyasha was up and in her way, scowling. "You're not going anywhere until you're trustworthy."

"Trustworthy?" Kagome echoed incredulously.

Inuyasha gave her a pointed look. "Yeah. Trustworthy. I don't want to spend all my time running after you when you get it in your head you might have a chance to escape."

"_Trustworthy?_" Kagome's eyebrow had begun twitching and it looked like she was silently counting to ten.

"Do I have to repeat myself again, wench?" He crossed his arms determinedly. "You're not going anywhere."

"_Trustworthy!_ All I want is a bath, Inuyasha! A _bath!_ Is that too much to ask?"

"Yes."

For a moment she just glared at him, fighting the desire to slap him silly. Then she lifted her chin and stepped around him. "You're an idiot."

She got a full ten brisk steps in before he stopped gaping and started yelling. "Oi! Wench, get back here!"

"Later," she called over her shoulder. "I told you, I need a bath."

"Oi!"

She sighed patiently and turned. "Inuyasha, think of it this way. I'm doing you a favor."

He snorted, arms crossed over his chest. "Yeah, right. You've been nothing but trouble."

She bit the inside of her check to combat her rising temper. "You've got a good sense of smell, right?" she said sweetly.

"Damn straight. And I'll be able to follow you better than a bloodhound if you try to escape."

She waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes. However, my _point_ is that I probably smell worse to you than I do to me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my bath." And she turned on her heel and kept walking. "And no peeking!" she yelled behind her.

"As if you've got anything I'd want to see anyway!" he yelled back.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Jerk," she muttered.

"I heard that!"

Darn him and his adorable little ears.

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Kagome strode into camp carrying a bucket of water. "See? I'm back." She frowned and looked around. The fire was burning merrily, and her blankets had not been touched—but no Inuyasha. "Eh… Inuyasha?"

"Took you long enough," a voice grumbled above her. She looked up to find him perched on a branch in a nearby tree. He flicked an ear at her as she began moving around. "What's the water for?"

"Your wounds," Kagome answered as she hung the towel from a low hanging branch. It probably wouldn't be fully dry by the time dew started to fall, but it would be a start. "Come down here so I can clean them for you."

"I don't think so, wench."

"I do," Kagome retorted, grabbing the bandages. "Now get down here."

"Feh." He crossed his arms and looked away.

She scowled up at the back of his head. "Inu_yash_a…" Anyone with half a brain would have noticed Kagome's warning tone.

Poor Inuyasha. He never had a chance.

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Kagome tugged on the strip of bandage, brows furrowed in concentration.

Inuyasha was sulking.

She snuck a glance at him, a tiny smile tugging her lips upward. He could be so childish sometimes. His wounds had been healing quickly, and would probably be gone by tomorrow afternoon. But he was caked from head to toe in dried blood that needed to be washed off, and his stomach ought to be bandaged to help him heal faster.

"A picture'll last longer," he grumbled softly, and she blushed quickly averted her gaze. The next few moments passed in silence before he added, "Why are you doing this, anyway? I'll be healed by tomorrow. I'm not--"

"A weak human, I know," Kagome answered patiently, "but this will help you heal even faster." She pinned the bandage down, and he flinched.

"Hey! Watch where you're poking that thing."

"Sorry." She readjusted the pin. "Better?"

He grunted and got up, returning to his previous post in the branches above her.

"You're welcome," Kagome said off-handedly. She didn't really expect an answer and had already resigned herself to not receiving any thanks from him.

_The villagers were always grateful,_ a traitorous little voice murmured in the back of her mind and she roughly shoved it away. Thoughts like that would do her no good, and brought only homesickness and bitterness with them.

Besides, Inuyasha was nothing like the villagers. He'd made that crystal clear.

After all, what kind of a kidnapper was nice to their prisoner? Granted, he hadn't been polite, but he wasn't out to scare the bajeezers out of her or use her for his… physical needs.

Kagome shuddered at the thought. Yes, there were far worse kidnappers than Inuyasha. He might not like her very much, but he had saved her several times—discounting the fact that she wouldn't need saving if it weren't for him—and all he wanted from her was for her to find that weird rock.

Was the Shikon no Tama really so important to him? Did he really want it badly enough to repeatedly save the life of a girl he didn't even like?

Come to think of it, what could he possibly want it for?

"Oi, wench. You hungry?" Without waiting for an answer he tossed her an apple and a piece of deer jerky. She caught the apple, but the jerky landed on a blanket.

Definitely not like the villagers back home, nor anyone else she'd ever met.

"Thanks." Her voice was subdued, as she was still half lost in her thoughts. What did the Shikon no Tama do, anyway? It was obviously powerful, but was its power real or symbolic, like a crown or throne?

His eyes narrowed at the passive tone her answer took. "You're not going back into shock, are you?"

She pulled herself out of her thoughts and focused on him. His eyes were intense. Gold was such an unusual color, but it suited him. "Twice in one day? Is that even possible?"

"How the hell should I know? You're the one who lives with a priestess."

"You'll have to excuse my lack of knowledge. We didn't have many people going into shock in the village," she answered dryly.

He was quiet for a moment, thinking. "So you were never attacked?"

Kagome shrugged and bit into the apple. "We had some bandits stop by a few years ago, but they didn't even make it to the village boundaries before they were stopped."

"What about demons?"

_Where is he taking this?_ Kagome wondered. "Everyone always talks about how the forest is swarming with demons, but nobody really ever remembers the last time one attacked."

Inuyasha snorted. "Idiot humans."

Kagome scowled momentarily, but quickly dismissed his comment. He'd already made dozens of them. "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged dismissively and looked away. "No reason. Just wondering."

She shrugged as well and lay down on her makeshift bed. "Alright. I'm going to bed."

"Good. You're less work when you're asleep."

She stuck her tongue out at him behind his back. He turned around and she smiled innocently. "Good night, Inuyasha. See you in the morning light."

He scowled fiercely and hopped down to crouch next to her. "No escape attempts this time, all right, wench? I want to get an early start. We lost a full day 'cause of your stupid antics."

Her guiltless smile remained firmly intact. "Of course, Inuyasha."

"I mean it," he growled. "No funny business."

She gently tweaked his ear and lay down, pulling up the blanket. "I hear you loud and clear. Don't worry."

"Promise me."

She sighed and rolled her eyes, crossing her fingers. "I promise."

That seemed to pacify him. He turned away and hopped back into the tree, closing his eyes. Kagome silently watched him for a moment, guilt gnawing at her insides. _He took me at my word,_ she thought miserably. _Darn it. All right. No funny business tonight, but he never said anything about any other nights._

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**Reviewer Replies:**

**Moonlit Showers aka Inukag Fan:** Thanks for the review! Say, you wouldn't happen to be the same Moonlit Showers that reads CrimsonBirdhouse's stuff, would you?

**CrimsonBirdhouse:** Wheee! My longest review yet! P And fluff:innocently: I didn't see any fluff. (To tell you the truth, though, I didn't mean to put it there, and I almost didn't catch it myself. ; It didn't make your teeth hurt, did it?) And don't worry, I have every intention of slowing the plot down juuuuust a little bit. (This chapter was actually part of that.)

**A/N:** I can't tell you how pleased I was to get your reviews, you guys! I got all smiley and excited and started bouncing around. P

I'm thinking I'm going to make the chapters just a few pages shorter each, b/c then they're liable to come out faster. . ;; Sorry again for such a long wait, guys. I know, I'm a horrible person, but my goal is to get another one out before the new year!

Ja ne! And thanks again for reading!


	7. Soap and Walking Privileges

**No, you are not imagining things! I took down this chapter to change a few things, then reposted it. It's now about a page and a half longer. **

**A/N:** Yay! I'm managing life! Can you tell when things get easier? I update faster! Consider this an early Christmas present, because I don't think there will be another one before the big day.

Just a heads up, though—I've been working on my original stuff, too, lately, so bear in mind that I'm juggling two stories. (Yes, I know I swore I never would, but we all know how that works:rolls eyes:)

I'm not entirely happy with how this chapter turned out, but I'll deal with it. It reads like a filler, even though it brings up a few important things that need to be discussed. Oh well. Read, review, and enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Inuyasha, but I do have a big black doggy who I sometimes call Inu-kun when no one's watching… how pathetic is that?

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Previously, on The Piper's Well:

He turned away and hopped back into the tree, closing his eyes. Kagome silently watched him for a moment, guilt gnawing at her insides. _He took me at my word,_ she thought miserably. _Darn it. All right. No funny business tonight, but he never said anything about any other nights._

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"OI!"

An awful bellow sounded in her ear and she jerked awake, eyes flying open as she gasped and flailed madly. "Get away from me!" she shrieked, smacking the offender. "Help! Inuyasha!"

Inuyasha caught her wrist as she went in for a second attack and gave her a dry look.

She blinked owlishly. "Oh. It's just you." She yawned and lay back down, her eyes sliding shut.

"What? Hey!" he protested. "Come on, get up! We've got a jewel to find, and the sun's already up!"

She pulled the blanket over her head. "Ask me if I care."

Indignant spluttering was all that registered before she smiled, relishing in the warmth under the wool blanket. _Mmm… so nice…_

She groaned as if in pain when it was ripped away from her. Without opening her eyes, she reached down and fumbled for the missing warmth. Snickering alerted her fuzzy brain to where it must have gone, and she pouted. "Mou. Inuyasha, you jerk, give it back," she mumbled.

"Ask me if I care," he repeated in a prim voice, and she opened her eyes to raise a confused brow at him.

"What kind of comeback was that?"

He scowled at her. "Shut up and get moving."

/-+-

/-+-

The girl and half demon packed up camp and walked for several uneventful hours while trying to keep the bickering to a minimum. Sometime before lunch they exited the actual forest and walked on a well-worn, dirt trail instead. It was large enough for an oxen-drawn wagon to travel on it, albeit a little uncomfortably.

"This is all your fault," Inuyasha growled.

Kagome's eyes narrowed and she glared at him. "_What's_ all my fault?"

"We would have made it to the next village by now if you hadn't tried to escape," he accused. "But now we have to go to the next one so we don't attract as much attention. The death of that hair bitch—"

"Yura?"

"Yes, Yura! Her death is going to excite the villagers, and we don't need to draw any more attention than we're already going to get."

"What! That's not my fault!"

Inuyasha continued as if he hadn't heard her. "And don't say we should stop anyway, because we've already passed it."

"We've already passed it? But my letter—you promised!"

He waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. You'll get to send your damn letter sooner or later. Now hurry up, at the rate we're going it's going to take us a week to get to the next one."

Kagome, after lengthy deliberation, decided that out of mercy for the poor guy she wouldn't rip his ears off. "Why do we have into go to a village if it will attract undo attention, anyway?"

"Supplies," he grunted, "Rumors as to where the jewel might be. And you have to send your stupid letter."

"It's not a stupid letter," she countered primly. "It's a ransom note."

"No it's not, stupid! I don't care how much they offer, you're not going home 'till we find the jewel."

Kagome fell silent after that, brooding. Inuyasha snuck a couple of glances at her but stopped after she caught him. She smiled wryly and he scowled, fighting a blush, and looked away.

"Why do you need me to find the jewel?" she asked abruptly after another ten or so minutes of silent hiking. "Why not somebody else?"

Inuyasha was quiet for a moment before he answered. "You've got spiritual powers on a level that nobody else has had for a long time."

Kagome looked at him, confused. His expression was drawn and unreadable. "No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't!"

"Don't argue with me on this, wench. You do."

"But I've never been able to do anything that children with spiritual powers can do," she protested. "I've never demonstrated the smallest bit of spiritual powers. Kaede was going to have to find someone else to take her place as the village priestess."

"They're dormant," he replied. "Most people wouldn't be able to detect them."

"Then how did you know?" Kagome asked.

He looked up at the sky thoughtfully. "Not telling."

"What? No way! Tell me!" she demanded.

Inuyasha shook his head. "No."

"Why not?"

"Ignorance is bliss, wench." She glared at him and he smirked, unaffected. "You don't need to know yet, and as my prisoner, you're on a need-to-know basis."

"But I need to know now!"

"Zip it already!"

Kagome tried to get him to tell her, but he refused to say a word more. So she fumed and refused to say anything else to him for the rest of the day.

/-+-

/-+-

"We'll stay here for the night," Inuyasha told her. "There's a stream not to far from here."

Kagome put her pack down—the pack he'd _stolen_ right out of her closet, she reminded herself sullenly-- and pulled out the towel, now dry, and the other bathing supplies. _Stupid jerk. Ignorance is bliss—HAH! Don't make me laugh. You just don't want to tell me._

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as she began pulling things out of her pack while pointedly ignoring him. So she still refused to speak to him, eh? Well, that was fine by him. It was far more peaceful without her blathering. He hopped into a nearby tree and called, "Stream's over that way. And remember your promise, no funny business."

"Idiotic jerk," Kagome muttered as she turned in the direction of the stream.

"I heard that!"

/-+-

/-+-

Kagome shivered and dunked her head under the water. She came up spluttering and shivering like there was no tomorrow, covered in goosebumps from head to toe. Gods, that water was cold!

She'd been tempted to take longer than half an hour, just to spite that stupid half-demon. After all, it wasn't like he'd really come racing after her—how did he know he wouldn't run in on her when she wasn't dressed? He didn't, and therefore wouldn't. So technically, unless he really was some perverted weirdo—which she _really_ hoped he wasn't! — he wouldn't dare follow her when she said she was going to take a bath.

_Hm. There's option number one for escape attempt number two._ Kagome finished washing herself and got out, rubbing herself dry as quickly as she could. She could easily get a half hour's head start on him if she went off to "take a bath." But she'd need a faster mode of transportation. She wasn't nearly fast enough to outrun him, so maybe a horse? Or she could stow away on a ship… but that wouldn't do her any good when her destination was home. She cringed. _But could I really steal a horse? I guess I could always return it after all is said and done, but still…_

"I'll wait until there are other people around," she mused aloud to herself, "Because then I've got help when he comes after me. Maybe I should join a merchant caravan. Then there'd always be someone nearby."

She sighed and pulled on her undergarments, then her outer clothes. "This is ridiculous," she muttered, "Stupid Inuyasha. Stupid Yura. Stupid jewel. Stupid 'dormant spiritual powers.' Stupid cold water. Stupid—argh! It's all stupid!"

Kagome flopped down on her back, fully dressed, and sighed again. The cold began to recede from her body and her eyes fluttered shut. "How would he know if I had spiritual powers? How could he know and I not? They're mine, after all. They're _in_ me. Well, until they come out… but I would have noticed that." She frowned and sat up so she was resting on her elbows. "Unless…"

_Kagome took another step forward, anger fueling her recklessness. Really, challenging a demon—even if it was only verbally—probably wasn't the smartest move. She didn't notice the pinkish glow her skin had acquired. _

_She opened her mouth to let that one-armed idiot have it. "You stupid little--"_

_She stopped short when she felt a restraining hand on her arm. She looked back, startled to see Inuyasha frowning at the demoness. Then he grinned. "I bet you wish she was on your side, don't you?"_

"_She will be, soon enough," Yura hissed, pulling out her comb._

_He smirked. "Not if I kill you first."_

"_Stop bluffing," She scoffed, "You're a mere half-demon who can't even see my individual hairs, let alone my collection."_

"_But I can!" Kagome butted in furiously, taking another step forward. Inuyasha tugged her back. "And you can be sure I'll help him!"_

"_You don't need to," Inuyasha told her, smirking. "I can see her 'collection.'"_

Her jaw dropped and she scrambled to her feet. "Holy gods above," she muttered in disbelief. "I _didn't_ notice!"

/-+-

/-+-

"Inuyasha!" she yelled as she stumbled into camp. "Inuyasha, get down here right now!"

A lazy golden eye opened and scowled down at her. He hadn't moved from his perch since she'd left. "You got my hopes up, wench," he drawled, "I was starting to think you'd drowned."

"Why didn't you tell me I'd used spiritual powers?" Kagome demanded, hands planted on her hips. "I thought you just said I had them!"

His other eye shot open as he sat up and looked down at her warily. "What are you talking about, bitch?"

"It's Kagome!" she snapped, "And I'm talking about when we were fighting Yura! You couldn't see her hair at first, remember?" When she paused for breath but didn't get a reply, she pushed forward. "And then I got mad at her, and you tugged me back and could suddenly see her hair." She pushed her bangs back and glared up at him.

Inuyasha scowled back at her. "You think too highly of yourself," he informed her, "How do you know I didn't pull a trick of my own?"

Kagome made an exasperated noise. "Because I just know!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, real convincing, wench. I totally believe you now."

"You don't have to believe me," she snapped, "I don't know how I know, but I do. I transferred some of my powers to you, didn't I?"

He studied her warily through narrowed eyes for a long moment, then snorted in disbelief and leaned back against the trunk of his tree. "You're deluding yourself, wench. Go to bed."

"No! Answer me!" Kagome yelled.

"I thought you said you were going to take a bath."

She frowned in confusion. "What? I did."

"Fat lot of good that did you. There's a leaf in your hair."

"Argh! You stupid, idiotic _jerk!_" Kagome fumed and picked up a nearby rock the size of her fist. She chucked it at him with all her strength.

It hit him in the shoulder and bounced off, rolling a little when it hit the ground. "Go to sleep, Kagome," Inuyasha said.

Whatever Kagome heard in those words, it worked. The fight went out of her and her shoulders slumped as she crawled beneath her blankets.

"I hope you're happy," she growled softly, but he heard. "You have completely turned my life inside out." Then she turned over and closed her eyes with a defeated sigh. _I just want to go home._

When her breathing had finally evened out, Inuyasha hopped off his perch and silently padded over to his sleeping prisoner. He tugged her blankets up to cover her shoulders and muttered ruefully, "If only you knew, wench."

/-+-

/-+-

The duo was up and moving in the wee hours of morning with a relatively small amount of violence.

"Relatively small" being slightly less than usual.

Kagome, with a wicked gleam in her sleepy eyes, wandered over to the side of the road and lay down to go back to sleep, just to see what her kidnapper would do.

He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Oof! Inuyasha, put me down!"

"No can do, wench. You've lost your walking privileges."

Kagome gaped at his audacity and began wiggling ferociously. "Don't treat me like a child, you jerk! Put me down!"

Inuyasha merely shifted his grip on her so she couldn't escape. "Stop wiggling, bitch."

"Inuyasha!"

"If you don't want me to treat you like a child, then you shouldn't act like one." He smirked as she 'hmphed.' "That's what I thought."

"You _thought?_" Kagome gasped dramatically. "That's a first!"

Inuyasha growled. "Why don't you just shut up while you're ahead, wench? At least then I wouldn't have to listen to your incessant chatter."

Kagome ignored him. _If it's chatter he wants, it's chatter he'll get,_ she thought viciously, _Though I suppose it'd be too much to hope for that I'll talk so much he'll get sick of me and let me go home._

"You didn't bring soap," she announced.

"What?" Inuyasha glanced up at her, then blushed and quickly glanced back down. A perfect view of her rear end was not what he'd been looking for, even if it was nicer than most.

"You didn't bring soap," she repeated, "You stole my bag right out of my closet but you didn't bring soap. How is that even possible? I could have sworn there was still soap _in_ there from the last time I used it."

"Which was when? Were you four?"

"No! I was _ten._"

"Fooled me. That thing smelled worse than dead bodies left out in the sun."

"And you would know that _how?_" Kagome demanded, twisting so she could see his face.

He rolled his eyes. "Take a wild guess, wench."

She was silent for about a full half minute before saying, "That still doesn't explain why you didn't bring soap."

Inuyasha shrugged, and she 'eep'ed in protest as her stomach bounced uncomfortably on his shoulder. "I tossed it out."

"You tossed it out?" she echoed, mouth agape.

"Yeah. It smelled bad."

"It smelled bad?"

He rolled his eyes. "Stop repeating everything I say, bitch. I tossed it out because it smelled nasty. You might have liked how it smelled, but I've got a better nose than you humans do."

"Inuyasha—" Kagome whined, "It was pink, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…"

"That was my favorite soap, you jerk!"

/-+-

/-+-

Two days after Inuyasha slung Kagome over his shoulders, they topped a hill an hour or two after lunch and Kagome let out a breathless whoop. "Civilization!"

Inuyasha grunted. "Who says we're stopping here? There's another village about three days from here."

Kagome let out a strangled cry. "What! Inuyasha, please! One night in an inn! Please!" He quirked an eyebrow at her. "And besides, you still have to let me send a letter to Kaede! You promised!"

He grumbled but relented—but not before laying down the law. "You're not leaving my sight, you hear me, wench? Not for five seconds. I don't want to have to go runnin' after you again."

When Kagome didn't say anything, he continued.

"And this stickin' letter of yours—no telling the old hag where you're going, what you're doing, who you've seen, who I am, what I look like, where you are, or what we're looking for." Kagome made a strangled noise in the back of her throat and he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. "Got a problem with that?"

"Uh, let me think about that—_yeah,_ I've got a problem with that! If I can't tell her all that, what in the world _can_ I tell her?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Just tell her the truth—you're unharmed, aren't you?"

Kagome stopped walking, hands clenched at her sides. "That's _it?_ I've been kidnapped, missing for—what, four days now? Five? And all you're going to let me tell my grandmother is that I'm unharmed? What about when I'm going to be _home?"_

A few paces ahead, Inuyasha paused as well and turned back to scowl at her. "I don't know when I'm letting you go, wench," he growled, "But it sure as hell ain't gonna be before we find the jewel. A few months, at the very least."

Her eyes clouded over as a sense of foreboding violently struck, making her nerves tingle and putting her on edge. "A month, you mean. That's what you said earlier."

He growled softly and turned away to glare at the town sprawled out before them. Her sense of foreboding increased.

One ear was still trained on her. The other flicked this way and that, taking in the sounds from the thinning forest around them. "I lied," he finally ground out, "We could be doing this for years without any luck."

The bottom of Kagome's stomach dropped—or maybe that was her heart falling to the ground? —and a chill washed over her.

_Years._

"Oh," was all she could say.

Years before she saw Kaede again.

Years before she saw Sango, or Kohaku, or Miroku.

Years before she saw Ayumi, Yuka, or Yuki again.

A lifetime before she might return home.

Never is a very… long… time.

Minutes passed, and his words slowly sunk in and she tried to push them back out. _I might have to spend the rest of my life like this. Traveling through the woods with him, searching for some blasted Shikon no Tama while everyone at home grows up and grows old, every now and then wondering what happened to that Kagome girl._

Vaguely, she realized both of Inuyasha's ears were trained on her, and she slowly took a breath. The first she'd taken since he'd last spoken. _Years. A lifetime._

She felt detached from herself, as if she was watching a play. If she were part of the audience, she'd lean over to Sango and whisper, 'That poor girl. Just think about what she must be going through right now, realizing that she'll never see her family, friends or home again.' And Sango would whisper, 'She'll escape from that horrible man, just watch.' Then Kaede would lean over and hush us…

"I think it's time you told me exactly what you've gotten me into," she told him.

He finally turned to face her, only nearly wince with something that was uncomfortably close to guilt. Shock, sorrow and resentment flitted across her face as if dancing.

She was a nice girl. Despite all he'd done, she still respected him. She didn't treat him differently because he was a half demon; when she did treat him differently it was because he'd done something to piss her off. _It doesn't matter,_ he reminded himself. _Once I'm a full demon, I'll have the respect I deserve, and it_ won't matter

He was ruining her life.

Even so, he shrugged in what he hoped was an indifferent manner. "Whatever. You'll have to find out sooner or later. Come on. We'll grab a room at a nice inn and I'll tell you." He glanced back at her face, but her eyes caught and held him. She was lost, floundering somewhere between hatred and despair even as her eyes slowly filled and blurred her vision.

"I'll never see them again, will I?" Her voice may have been near-silent, but it didn't wobble or crack when she spoke. _Thank the gods for that small blessing._

Inuyasha looked like he was trying not to feel guilty. Good. Served him right! His guilt was nothing, not when he could set things straight and send her home.

He frowned slightly, almost determinedly. "Yes you will."

Liar.

"Promise?"

He met her eyes again, and she wanted to hate him. Gods, she wanted to hate him.

"I promise."

/-+-

/-+-

**Reviewer Replies:**

**Moonlit Showers aka InuKag Fan** Thanks for the support! I hope you liked their "interactions" in this chapter. Lol They're not going to be fighting quite a loudly in the next chapter, just because it would draw too much attention in a town.

**Kikyo'sExterminator** A new reviewer:glomps: I'm so glad you liked it!

**CrimsonBirdHouse:** Thank you! I like the analogy, even if the "brother and sister" part makes me just a liiiiitle nervous, just because of where their relationship is headed. ;;

**A/N:** Expect the next chapter to be out on or around January 8! They'll be heading in to town so Inuyasha can explain himself, and there will be a storyteller performing at the inn...


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